Switched
by MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear
Summary: After a strange runin with a spiritual Japanese woman Max and Lissa switch bodies! Are these worst enemies really who they thought eachother to be or is there more to the picture? They must learn to work together to reverse the spell before time runs out.
1. Degrassi Maximum Ride Style

A/N: Hey there...its me again. I'm home "sick" today so I decided...what better way to pass the time then to write some Max Ride fanfic. Okay...there's probably better ways to pass the time, but I'm just gonna pretend that this is the funnest thing I can possibly do right now. As you may know...all of my fanfics are currently Max Ride fanfics. I'm working on cooking up an idea for another book to write fanfic about. Oddly...all of my ideas seem to involve winged mutants and secret science labs disguised as Elementary hell. Well...I'll have to work on that, but for now I'll just stick to what I do best. Maximum Ride...

**To Fill Everyone In: **This fanfiction takes place during the second book. But...a few things are going to be changed. Number one...we are just going to pretend that Anne isn't evil. Okay? Good. Sorry if my description of Anne's appearance isn't accurate or legitimate with the actual books. I don't happen to own copies, and don't seem to have the time to Google such a random topic. (Not that I don't appreciate a little randomness in life) The flock is still going to go to the same school they did in the second book, but the teachers and students they meet there are going to be different. Except for Sam and Lissa, 'cause they were semi important characters in the story. So...now that that's all cleared up, I can actually write the STORY. Okay...

**Disclaimer!: **The characters in this story do not belong to me. They are property of James Patterson. Except for the occaisional character I'll make up, none of them are mine. Also...any brand names in this story are property of the companies who distribute them. So...no Coke, Twinkies, or Pixie Stix for me.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Degrassi...Maximum Ride Style**

I listened distractedly as my footsteps echoed off the hardwood flooring of the long hallway that belonged to the second floor of Anne's house. The footsteps sound the same as when I first walked this hallway almost three months ago. Except, at that time, there was sunlight pouring through the windows making little dust particles visible in the beams of light they passed through. Now...raindrops slid down the windowpanes which were rimmed with a chilled fog. The kind you can draw pictures in. And last time, four pairs of feet, and one set of paws followed behind me. I don't think we've ever stayed in one place for so long, not counting the E shaped house. It's kind of nice. A sense of permanence, or as Fang calls it, "another excuse to have access to a kitchen, and shower more often".

So...three months ago, after Fang's wonderful display of just how much blood the human body contains, we found Anne. Anne, with her shoulder length, honey brown hair, and pair of intense hazel eyes, had agreed to take us in and raise us as one of her own. Something along those lines, anyways. We were now "happily" (please note quotation marks) attending a Virginia school. Failing to be able to call eachother by our code names succesfully, we finally came up with the most reasonable excuse for our strange names. The truth. Well...not all of it, but it's mostly true if you think about it. We've just told everyone that they're simply nicknames we call eachother. And I guess most people believed us, because everyone is playing along. Of course, we couldn't tell them everything. We're going with the cover story that Anne is our loving foster mom, who took all of us in. Not only does it cast her in a good light, but it also avoids extreme awkwardness when people bring up the subject of parents and such. We are now allowed to hog the phones all night talking to our friends, take ridiculously long showers, eat ice cream for dinner, and watch saturday morning cartoons just like regular people. You know...regular people who also happen to have a pair of wings sewn onto their backs. Today, though, was not one of those cartoon days. Instead, we were all running around, trying to get ready for school. Ah yes...school. The one drawback to our new life. Everyday, we go to sit in hard chairs that hurt your butt, and listen to teachers with far too much nose hair lecture us on how Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And the only thing you really learn, is that cafeteria meatloaf does indeed pulsate occasionally, and that the boys bathroom is something to be avoided at all costs. Especially on burrito days. I scrambled down the hall, preparing for such a day, with my bathtowel wrapped securely around me as I skidded around the corner and made a dive for my room. Throwing on a clean t-shirt and a pair of jeans with only a few rips in them, I was quickly out again. When you have a house full of seven people and one dog, you don't have alot of room to spare. I spent the remainder of the morning steering clear of morning breath, avoiding airborn school supplies, and running into people with bits of toast in my mouth.

"Ouch..." I slurred for the third time in the last ten minutes, as I took the sharp corner to the kitchen and slammed into Fang.

"Geeze, Max." he said, rubbing his arm in mock pain. "Watch where you're going. Even--" I cut him off before he could finish.

"I know, I know. Even Iggy has better coordination then I do. Save it for later." I mumbled. He cracked a rare smile and walked off towards the refridgerator, chuckling under his breath. "You've used that one before." I told him, shoving a few notebooks into my already bulging book bag. He slid a glass of orange juice across the counter for me. I grabbed it and gulped it down thankfully. He poured one for himself, and then leaned across the counter.

"I apologize. I'll have to come up with a more original insult to use. I shall ponder that topic during algebra when I have nothing better to do." he said pointedly. I shrugged and splashed him with a bit of the remaining dregs of juice. He blinked for a second, and then dashed for the sink, ready to turn it on full blast and give me a face full. Thankfully, Anne came to the rescue, bustling into the kitchen while trying to pull her shoes on and tie her hair back at the same time.

"Hurry up you guys. We're going to be late. The others are already in the car!" Glancing at the clock, I realized we had about ten minutes to get to school, and made a run for it. I heard Fang following closely behind, slipping a black hoodie and his backpack on at the same time. I know...his skills are never ending. Trust me...he doesn't let me forget it. I slid into the back with Nudge, as it was Gazzy's turn for shotgun. "All right, everyone buckled?" asked Anne, checking over her shoulder to make sure we all had our seatbelts in place. "Okay...off we go."

* * *

Ten minutes later, I was pushing through the crowded halls of our middle school, trying to make my way to my locker. Finally, I emerged from the crowd and spun in my locker combination, banging it twice with my fist before it would open. An old trick you have to learn, to deal with these ancient lockers. I hurriedly shoved my stuff inside, running so I wouldn't get caught in the halls after the bell rang. On my way there, I ran into Iggy. Apparently, I had accidentally grabbed his Science notebook. Running late, I practically chucked it at his head and ran, apologizing over my shoulder. My first class of the day was Social Studies with Mr. Vandehei. I slid into my seat next to my tablemate, Brianna, and tried to get organized. Mr. Vandehei took roll call, and then gave us a very boring lecture on none other than Christopher Columbus, on which we were expected to take notes. When the bell finally rang, I felt like all the fun in life had been sucked out during that one, endless lecture. Now you see my pain. I lazily scooped up my books, ready for a quick return trip to my locker to drop my books off, during which I usually meet up with Katie, one of my friends. She's usually the one that stays over to all hours of the night, trying to force my brain to understand algebra. I happen to know she has a crush on Iggy. She blushes everytime he enters the room. Sure enough, there she is, her long, ginger hair in its usual braids resting leisurely on her shoulders. Her pale white skin, and blue eyes stand out and contrast with her hair, but I think she's beautiful in an exotic sort of way. Her smile is always warm and full of laughter. One of my favorite things about her. "Hey." she greets me, tossing the braids behind her shoulders. "What's up?" I shrug, exchanging one set of books for another, and beginning to walk towards the Science room.

"Nothing...Mr. Vandehei seems to expect us to take interest in explorers that can't even read their maps right." I grumbled. She laughed lightly.

"Christopher Columbus, I'm guessing?" I nod, and she laughs some more. In science, we do a lab where we have to grow radish plants in different settings like refrigerators or in dark closets. One boy ends up choking on a radish seed, and has to be sent to the nurse's office. I try not to laugh. My next class (English) is on the other side of the hallway. And crossing a hallway when everyone is changing classes, can actually be quite dangerous. My strategy is to wait by the bathrooms until it clears up a bit, so here I stand, waiting for the midmorning traffic jam to subside. Katie stands by my side patiently as we wait for an opening to appear. I glance over at her, since she's usually best at predicting the best times to jump into the rush, and see her eyes narrow. I cock my head to the side.

"Red alert." she muttered. "Here comes the Wicked witch of the East, West, North _and_ South." I turn my head, and there SHE is. Walking down the hall, surrounded by her usual crowd, her red curls bouncing on her shoulders. I feel my eyes narrow too. She carries an aura around her, and people seem drawn to her. It actually sometimes frightens me. As she walks past, the wind from a fan conveniently blowing her hair, she turns her head slightly, catching eye contact with me. I see her mouth the word "dyke" and quickly give her the finger. I smile sweetly as her own grin slides off of her face.

"Come on...lets get to class." I say, grabbing Katie by the arm and tugging her in the direction of the English room.

"What...a hoecake." She mutters so only I can hear. I laugh darkly and assume my seat next to another one of my friends.

* * *

A couple of other classes later, it's time for lunch. I walk alongside Marcie, the girl I sit next to in English, and Ryan, who happens to be one of our lunch table crowd. We joke about the teachers and their nasal voices on the way there. After grabbing my walking taco, which I'm slightly afraid might actually get up and walk away, I head for my usual table, already crowded with my friends. Across the room, I see Fang beckoning me towards him. I set my tray down, and tell everyone I'll be right back before hurrying over to see what was going on. "What's up?" I ask, coming to a halt in front of him. Only a few people stare this time.

"You okay?" he asked. "I saw you in the hall earlier this morning, and you looked really mad about something." The scene with HER flashed before my eyes again. I felt my mouth set into that hard line it assumes when I'm angry or brooding. Fang raises an eyebrow, asking for an explanation.

"Your girlfriend doesn't seem to like me very much..." I growled, before turning to walk away, no longer in the mood to chat. But Fang, being his usual persistent self, grabbed my arm and turned me around. A few more people were starting to stare, looking hopefull. Maybe they were hoping a fight would break out. At least it would be entertaining if I flipped Fang into a table.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." he said, looking confused. "What are you talking about?" I took a deep breath.

"I think you know very well what I'm talking about..." I mumbled, not quite sure if I wanted him to hear me or not. "It's not important..." I say, turning again to go back to my table. All my friends were looking expectantly at me, waiting for me to return with the latest gossip about what was happening. I felt Fang's fingertips graze my elbow, but I kept walking, out of his reach. I take a seat in between Marcie and Katie, and begin picking at my taco, not very hungry anymore.

"What was all that about?" asked Marcie, pushing a strand of her stick-straight dark brown hair behind her triple pierced ears. I shrugged.

"Nothing...he just needed to borrow one of my notebooks for a class. He missed a day, and needed to copy my notes." I told her casually. She raised her eyebrows.

"That's not what it looked like." she said matter of factly. I took another deep breath.

"Well...that's what happened. If you don't believe me, that's your problem." It came out a bit snappier than I had intended it to sound, and I immediately felt bad. Marcie wasn't trying to pry, she was just naturally curious, and hated when people kept secrets from her. It wasn't her fault I was having a crappy day so far. She held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Sorry...didn't mean to offend you." I shook my head to let her know it was fine, and she seemed to get the message, because a few seconds later she was chatting with Ryan, who sat across from her. That's what I like about Marcie. She never takes anything too personally, and she doesn't hold a grudge. Makes life easier, that's for sure. Katie kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eyes, like she just knows something is bothering me, but is too smart to ask about it. Katie is tactfull. A few minutes later, everyone's casual conversation and jokes have me in a better, more relaxed mood. I hear a sudden burst of laughter behind me, and swivel in my seat to see the source of the noise. I'm sorry I looked. There she is, with her little clan of followers. Rich, popular, beautiful. Stereotypical teenage cheerleader. My eyes narrow again. I suppose I should probably explain my absoulte hatred for the girl. This level of dislike doesn't just pop up overnight, it sinks in gradually until it actually makes you sick to look at them. Lissa Morgan. She's the kind of girl that all the parents and teachers like, all the guys want to be with, and all the girls want to be. She's captain of the dance team, and does cheerleading too. She's a straight A student, and she throws magnificent parties. Or so I've been told. She donates to charity, and all the parents think she's innocent, and caring and all the rest of that B.S. Then...there's the side she shows to people she doesn't like. She's bitter, she starts rumors, she talks trash to your face, and she is the school's renowned slut. Only fourteen, and already a slut. And she's proud of it too. Exactly the kind of girl who makes me sick.

"What's up with you today, Max?" asked Ryan. I looked away from Lissa as she descended on her newest prey. A girl sitting at the corner table, reading some sort of thick novel with large, curly letters on the front. She was wearing all black, even her lipstick. Her hair had blue highlights, and her ears and nose were pierced.

"Take a wild guess..." I muttered, looking back at the scene across the lunchroom. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the girl's eyes started to get misty, and her mouth formed a quivering, hard line. One of the girls that accompanied Lissa grabbed the book from the girl's hands and started to mock read from it. I gritted my teeth, and pushed away from the table. I felt my friends' eyes following me as I stalked across the lunch room towards the girls. I walked right up to the girl who had taken the book and wrapped my hands around it's stiff cover.

"I don't believe this belongs to you." I said icily, yanking it out of her hands and placing it on the table in front of the other girl.

"Oh great, it's you." Lissa moaned. "All the lame in this room is giving me a headache." She rubbed her temples and grinned a bit.

"Oh please, you don't have enough brains to get a headache." I snapped back. Lissa's eyes narrowed and her friends let out an audible gasp. "Now run along, or you'll miss out on the witty conversation your neandethals seem to be having." I pointed towards the parade of guys sprawled out at the table across from us. They all rolled their eyes, seeming to have nothing to say back to me, and wandered of to join their thick skulled football fanatics at the lunch table. I glanced back at the petite girl sitting in front of me. She peered up at me with sultry eyes under a thick layer of eyeliner and shadow. Her tiny nose stud glittered in the big, cafeteria lights. She hadn't touched her food. I glanced back at Fang quickly. He had his nose burried in some homework he had obviously forgotten to finish. Why is he always so blind to everything Lissa does?! It's like the only time he ever notices her is when she's acting all nice and flirting with him. Why can't he just see, just once, what a monster she is?! I sighed and turned my attention back to the girl. "Watcha reading?" I asked casually, sinking down into the seat across from her. She looked surprised for a minute, before getting her vocal cords in proper working order.

"The complete works of Edgar Allen Poe." she said quietly. I nodded, pretending to know who she was talking about.

"I'm Max, by the way." I said, extending my hand. She raised her eyebrows, but took it in her own hand.

"Emily." A one syllable reply. This chick bore a striking resemblance to a certain someone sitting across the room. *Cough* Fang *Cough*. I was trying to find something else to talk about, when she spoke again. "Umm...thanks for standing up for me back there. You had some really good disses." I beamed.

"Happens to be one of my specialties." I said, still grinning. Emily smiled a little bit too. Well...it looked more like the black line of her mouth bent a little bit, but I'll take what I can get. There was an awkward moment of silence after that, as neither of us knew what to say. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, while Emily fooled with the bookmark she used to keep her place in that Edward Alex Poe book, or whatever it was. I glanced at the clock on the wall, and noticed that lunch period was over five minutes ago. The whole place had cleared out except for a few stragglers like us. I pushed out of my seat, and waited for Emily to follow. She didn't seem used to socializing with anybody, and I had never her seen her sitting with anybody at lunch. It took her a few minutes to understand that I wanted to walk with her to class. "I have Gym right now." I told her as we strolled down the hallway. We were already late, so why not take our time?

"Social Studies." she said, back to one syllable phrases again. We parted ways at a fork in the hallway by the water bubbler. I waved a brief goodbye, to which she returned with a nod of her head. As I watched her walk away, I wondered if I had made a new friend of sorts. A very strange friend, but a friend none the less. Her back continued to retreat towards the social studies classroom, and I wondered if she was thinking the same thing. I shrugged, and decided I'd better at least make the end of class. I took off at a run towards the gym locker rooms, hoping I would be able to change quickly and then slip in with the rest of the class like I had been there all along. Katie was in my gym class...she would back me up. I slammed through the locker room door, and smashed right into something tall, hard and florally scented. I fell to the floor, vibrant red and yellow flashing across my line of vision. Peeling my face off of the heavily odorous tiled floor, I realized I had run right into Lissa. Her eyes were harsh and fiery just like her hair. She too had managed to tumble to the chilly ground. This was just plain bad luck. I was having WAY too many run ins with her today. I pulled myself up, trying to recall if I had broken any mirrors or crossed any black cats' paths recently.

"Will you watch where you're going?" she snapped, picking herself up as well.

"Hey...I didn't WANT to run into you." I retorted sourly. "If I could have made a choice between running into you and not running into you, I would have picked the latter option. Lady Luck is obviously peeved with me today for some reason." Lissa was still ice cold. I could feel that aura of hers bubbling behind that pretty skin. A small smile shattered the ice.

"So...How was lunch with the lunatic?" she asked, and it was obvious that the ice was still there. I could practically see her breath.

"I don't recall that I've ever eaten lunch with you, Lissa." My own fiery smirk, seemed to burn some of that icy aura away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to change so I can go play dodgeball with the rest of your pinhead parade." I started to walk deeper into the sweaty depths of the locker room.

"Just stay out of my way, Maximum Ride. I refuse to let anything stop me from getting what I want. So watch out." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh I'm quaking in my squeaky gym shoes!" I called back when I had turned the corner. I pulled off my jeans, and hunted for my shorts. In mid-search, I came across a poster that had been torn off the wall. Must have been recently, 'cause the janitor hadn't collected it yet.

**ATSUKO KANAGAWA **

**LECTURE ON EMPATHY AND ACCEPTANCE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17. **

**1:30 P.M. **

**ALL STUDENTS REQUIRED TO ATTEND **

I groaned and crumpled the poster again. That lecture thing was tomorrow. The last thing I need right now is some strange woman preaching to me about difference and empathy. I threw the poster under a bench and found my shorts, shoving them on. I slipped on my gym shoes and then dashed out the door, ready to be armed with a dodgeball and kick some serious ass.

* * *

A/N: Yawn...it's late. Anyways, I hope you liked it. This idea's been floating around in my head for a couple months now, and I decided it was now or never. I haven't seen a fanfic like this yet, so I decided to give everyone a break from the usual. You know...Max and Fang go around with the gang, discover their true feelings for eachother, and then Fang gets some action. Well...I'm not saying this story won't contain Fax. It will, just not an overload of it. Tell me how ya liked it. Thanks for reading. I had an interesting time home alone. My day consisted of a medical drama marathon (House! The best of them all!) and a chainsaw massacre, malibu barbie addition. :)

**In Random News**:

Pete Wentz shaved his beautiful hair. No!!!

Also, have any of you heard that new Hollywood Undead song? Everywhere I Go? Well...that song has awful lyrics, but its freaking catchy, and now I can't stop listening to it!!! Help me!

And....Lady Gaga spoke out at the Gay Rights Rally in Washington D.C. Yay!!!! Watched the video of her speech, and I just have one thing to say. You go, girl! I'm glad people are speaking out about this. I especially loved the rainbow flags. Haha. Wanted to go to this thing, but I don't live anywhere near Washington D.C. :( So...Lady Gaga. You have my blessing.

***My Blessing* **

See ya guys later! And remember...Review!!! Please, please. Um...everytime you review, you save a cat. So...Save a cat...Review.


	2. Bad Chinese Food

A/N: Hi there! Looks like I'm going to be telling you another story today, children. Okay...so. Um, yeah. Been busy lately, so it's been a LONG time in between updates. I got the flu, and we went on a class trip to DC. Seems like I'm always busy. Not that I'm complaining. I like being busy, but it prevents me from letting my creative juices flow. Awww.... So, I guess I'll just get on with the story 'cause now I'm rambling and I sound stupid. Hehe

* * *

**Chapter 2: Bad Chinese Food Can Sometimes Result in More Than a Stomach Ache **

**Max's POV **

Clunk, clunk, clunk! I listened to the steady sound of the bus eating up the slippery asphalt of the road that led to Anne's house. Angel and Nudge were pouring over some magazines Nudge had snatched from the teacher's lounge, and Iggy and Gazzy were sitting quietly in the seat in front of me, which kept me on the edge of my seat. I kept waiting for something to go "Kaboom!" or the bus to suddenly be filled with a toxic gas of some sort. Fang was sitting, as he always did when we took the bus, next to Pretty Princess herself. I kept my eyes on the rainy windows, not conciously aware of what I was seeing outside. Through the burble of bus passengers, I could make out their conversation if I listened.

"Jeeze, and that science quiz we had yesterday? What a bore! I couldn't understand half of what they were talking about." Lissa gushed, using hand gestures to emphasize her obvious annoyance with sentences that didn't contain information about her. Therefore making said sentences pointless and unnecessary. A waste of paper.

"Really? I though it was easy." Fang said lightly. "I mean...if you read the directions through, the problems made more sense. They slip little bits of information in there." Lissa giggled. It annoyed me that she could get a more than one syllable response out of him.

"That's probably why I flunked it." she said, crowing with laughter. Fang chuckled too. I sat there, listening to them laugh about her pathetic science grades. I began to feel sick to my stomache. I don't get why this bothers me so much. Sure, she's decieving him and acting all nice, but she's not hurting him. I mean...she's perfectly nice to _him_. And he obviously doesn't annoy her. Maybe I should just stay out of it. I glanced back at them. Lissa placed her hand on his arm as they laughed over something else. He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes when the wind from the open bus window caused it to flutter there. I glared. Nevermind. There was no way in heck I was just going to ignore this. I turned my back on them and resumed my status looking broodingly out the window. My reflection in the window looked so pitiful I started to laugh. I risked another glance back at them. They were still laughing about something. I grimaced and looked back out the window. I chuckled darkly again.

_"Maybe I should go home and write a poem about it." _I thought jokingly, thinking of Emily and her poetry book.

* * *

The bus rumbled to a stop about a block from Anne's house. The whole gang clambered off, and I tried to ignore the over-extensive goodbyes that streamed from Lissa's mouth. My sneakers made a loud sloshing noise as I waded through the series of miniture lakes in Anne's drive way. My face was hard and stony, and unfortunately percievable to the naked eye. In particular, Fang's naked eye. "What's eating you?" he asked, changing his step to match my own fast paced one. I was eager to get home. I bit my lip, and marched onward like a good soldier. I heard Fang sigh exasperatedly beside me. "Oh come on, Max. The silent treatment?! This is kindergarden material right here, Max." His arm shot forward to catch me by the strap of my backpack.

"Look...it's nothing important." I said, venom in my voice. "At least not to you." Fang released his hold on my backpack, his eyebrows raised.

"Jeese...PMS, or what?" he said mockingly, a hint of laughter ringing in his words. I nearly screamed in frustration. How could he be so insenstive?!

"Look...if you could take your eyes off of your precious Lissa for two seconds, maybe you could actually see that something was wrong. But since you've been so happy playing Helen Keller with Malibu Barbie, its your own damn fault that I'm angry!" We had reached the door, so I pushed it open and shot through, already halfway up the stairs by the time Fang's voice caught up with me.

"So this is about Lissa, is it?" I froze where I was on the stairs. Turning around, I smiled icily and gave a heaving laugh.

"No Fang..." I said, sarcasm already dripping from my tongue, "it's about my potato farm." I ran the rest of the way up the stairs, and dove into my room, slamming and locking the door behind me.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I watched Fang trudge off of the bus after the rest of them, and felt the all too familiar tugging start in my gut again. I sighed and looked out the rain streaked windows to the glossy pavement below. I watched as SHE crossed the deserted road and he followed after her. I don't even know why he bothers sitting next to me. His mind is somewhere else half of the time, and I'm always afraid to think of where that somewhere might be. Maybe because I already knew the answer. I had tried everything. Making him laugh, small talk, school stuff. Nothing seemed to be able to hold his attention like SHE did. I wish he would stop glancing over at her all the time. I wish he would stop scrawling her name in the corners of his notebooks. And I wish he would mean it when he said that he would call later. It's always about HER. The perfect, beautiful, smart, everything I'm not, Maximum Ride. God I hated her, I hated her so freaking much! I pressed my wet cheek up against the cold, leathery material that covered the bus seats. I didn't know what was wrong with me these days. I'd be doing something, and suddenly I'd be crying. I could hear the younger kids laughing at the back of the bus. It was so loud. So damn loud! I wanted to scream at them to shut up, but they were so little. Finally, there was just so many voices, I couldn't take it any more. I stood up, and faced the back. "Shut up!" I yelled at them. A dozen little faces peeked out at me from behind the shelter of their seats. I sighed, and turned to sit back down. At least everything was quiet now. I chewed on my lip to stop the tears from coming out. The bus slammed on the brakes, and I flew forward, my face slamming into the seat in front of me and my tooth sinking right through my lip. "Shit!" I said a little louder than planned. The kids were peeking out again. "What are you looking at?" I aske bitterly, pulling a tissue out of the side compartment of my back pack. This was my stop, so I stumbled off, dabbing at my bloody lip. Right when my foot hit the ground off the bus, the rain started fall. "Of course!" I yelled in exasperation. The other guy getting off the bus turned around and stared.

"Are you okay?" he asked skeptically, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes so I could see that they were a sparkly green. I was mesmerized by them for a minute before I remembered the question.

"Yeah, peachy." I grumbled sarcastically before walking across the street. The boy retreated into the apartment building down the street on the other side. I rolled my eyes. Boys asked the most retarted questions. Letting myself in, I noticed that my mother's car wasn't in the garage yet. Good...I could finally have some time to myself. Not have that woman breathing down my neck. I dug around in the freezer for awhile until I unearthed some Neopolitan. Bowl of ice cream in hand, I headed up to my room, shut the door and locked it.

* * *

**Max's POV **

Out of anger, and lack of anything better to do, I decided to give Emily's poetry approach a try. I didn't expect the meaning of life to come to me, or my deepest thoughts to be transformed in an array of artful metaphores, but this was the best thing I could come up with so far:

_Roses are red,  
Violets are blue,  
Lissa is a mother effing bitch, how bout you? _

My poetic talent was hardly something to envy, if not laughable. Okay...there was no question about whether it was laughable or not. The whole thing was a joke, but it did make me feel a little better. I even chuckled a little when I read it. I sighed and crumpled the paper. It'd been about half an hour since my spat with Fang, and though I was cooled down a bit now, I had no intentions of apologizing. He could be so ignorant sometimes! I hope he's feeling a massive amount of guilt and or confusion right about now, 'cause he deserves it. There was a loud rap on my door, which startled me. This caused my airborne poetry masterpiece to waver off course and miss my overflowing waste basket. I sighed again. "Come in!" I yelled, allowing my face to flop down onto my pillow. I felt the springs on my bed sink down as someone made themselves at home on my bed. Picking my head up from the confines of my pillow, I saw an expressionless Anne perched on the edge of my bed. I raised my eyebrows as she studied me like someone examining a bomb that could go off at any moment. I sat up and folded my hands in my lap to show her that I was prepared to behave like a civilized person might.

"I heard you had a rough day at school today." she began. I groaned. How did she find out about these things? "What happened?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Just the usual self-absorbed princesses pushing all my buttons again." Anne gave me a knowing look.

"Ahhh...I remember when I was in middle school. All the cliques and heartbreaks, and lets not forget the homework." She nudged my shoulder playfully. I attempted a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. Anne sighed. "Alright, I'll stop with the lame jokes. I just thought you might need a hug or something. Or at least some chocolate ice cream." She pointed to a bowl sitting on my dresser, which she must have put there when she came in. This time, I really did crack a smile. "There's the smile I've been looking forward to all day." I rolled my eyes. Anne's so called 'motherly instincts' sometimes kicked in at the wierdest times.

"Thanks." I said greatfully, giving her a quick hug and then running over to the dresser to claim my prize. Anne laughed at the way chocolate seemed to be the key to my heart.

"Hey," she said suddenly, "I got an email from school about some strange Chinese lady that's supposed to visit your school tomorrow?" I groaned.

"Thanks for reminding me." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, it sounds like fun." Anne said wistfully.

"Hey, if you wanna go in my place, be my guest." I offered, only half joking. She chuckled.

"Unfortunately, I think I have something important I have to do tomorrow. What was it again? Oh yeah...work so I can afford to feed you children." She joked. I rolled my eyes and flicked some of my ice cream at her. Sadly, she was also armed. She quickly flung a large pillow at me, which was big enough to crush me. Well....maybe I 'm exaggerating just a little bit. She then left so that I could be alone with my ice cream. Yummmmmm...

* * *

The next day, I had still not forgiven Fang for our argument. I hadn't spoken to him all last night, or this morning, and things weren't looking any better by the time lunch rolled around. When I walked into the lunchroom, I caught sight of Fang. He wasn't sitting at his usual table, but at Lissa's table. They were both laughing, and just the idea of the two of them joining in casual conversation over cafeteria lasagna made me sick to my stomach. I joined my friend, JJ, in the lunch line, never taking my eyes off of them. JJ's honey colored gaze followed my own chocolate brown one. She grinned knowingly. "Lissa bugging you again?" she asked.

"How'd you know?" I said sarcastically as the smiling cafeteria lady plopped a ladle-full of indistinguishable goo onto my tray. I studied it in awe, wondering how someone could take a food like lasagna and transform it to look like an animal had taken a crap on your tray. I followed JJ to the table where the rest of our friends sat waiting. Katie was sick today, so we were short one. Halfway to the table, I noticed Emily sitting alone again. She was reading a different book than the one yesterday. This one was smaller, and less intimidating. I paused. JJ stopped short as well.

"What's wrong?" I didn't say anything for awhile, I just watched Emily pour over her book. She hadn't even touched her food yet.

"I'm...uh...gonna sit with another friend of mine today, okay?" I said, starting to move towards Emily's corner table. JJ stared at me for a minute, but then shrugged and retreated to our usual table. When I reached Emily's table, she didn't look up until I was seated. And when she did, she looked surprised. "What? Am I not allowed to sit here anymore?" I asked playfully, poking at my "lasagna". She shook her head.

"No...you can sit here whenever. I just...I don't know. I thought--I was afraid...It was only a one time thing or something." She muttered. I laughed.

"Of course not. Once a friend, always a friend. Unless...you try to kill me or something." We both grinned at that. "So..." I said, looking for somthing to discuss. "What do you think about this Chinese woman that's supposed to enlighten us today?" She groaned.

"Ugh...I try not too. I don't want to be enlightened!" She practically yelled. I knew she was only playing around, but many people swiveled in their seats to see what was going on. She just smiled at them all. The rest of lunch period was pleasantly uneventful. When we dumped our trays, we noticed all the students were being herded up to the gym. We looked at eachother in question, and were forced to follow the rest of the group like a couple of lost sheep. We were shoved onto the bleachers. I ended up sandwhiched between Emily and a mildly attractive boy I think was in my biology class. As the people in front of us took a seat, a short Chinese woman came into view. She was skin and bones and looked like she should be working in a dumpling shop. As the chatter of chaos died down, the woman opened her mouth to speak. I noticed a small microphone by the corner of her small lips.

"Hello." she said in a thick Chinese accent. "My name is Atsuko Kanagawa. I come today to speak to you about acceptance." She took a breath for dramatic effect. Or maybe she was just old, and out of breath. Either way... "Acceptance is such a powerfull word. It changes thoughts, actions...It changes the world. To achieve acceptance of everybody in this world would be the single greatest accomplishment on this planet. As humans, we are born to love and be loved. And to love, you must accept." The rest of the lecture, was powerfull, I will admit. But not really my cup of tea. When it was over, I saw many kids with faces you have after you watch about two minutes of the history channel. Like you've just been spoken to in a foreign language. The Atsuko woman was packing up a bag of things by the wall. The rest of the kids were clambering off the bleachers. Emily nudged me, telling me to get a move on. I hurriedly followed the boy in my biology, trying to get off as fast as possible. Everyone was starting to shove everyone, and if I didn't hurry, I'd end up burried under a pile of angry teenagers. Yikes! The kid jumped up, and I tried to follow suit. I didn't notice the person standing below me until I'd already made a jump for it. I samshed into the person, and fell to the floor in a red blur. When I opened my eyes, I was face to face with Lissa who was also on the floor. Under me. I had jumped right ontop of her.

"Bitch!" she squealed, trying to shove me off of her. I rolled out of the way of the oncoming stampede. Lissa picked herself up angrily, and stalked towards me.

_"Oh great..." _I thought to myself, _"I'm in for it now." _She stopped right in front of me, and put her face right up close to mine so that I could feel her breath on my forehead.

"Why can't you just stay away from me, Max?! My world would be SO much easier if you just got out of my life for good. You're always embarassing me, and making fun of me. God! Just go away" she practically yelled. Emily shrank into a corner like a scared animal. She obviously wasn't very good with dealing with this sort of stuff.

"Get out of my face, Lissa." I said through gritted teeth. When she didn't budge, I put my hands on her shoulders and steered her gently away from me. Allright...she kind of ended up in the trashcan behind her, but she was totally asking for it. She squealed as she tripped backwards and sank down into the depths of the can. I could see her legs thrashing around in there, and everyone was laughing. I'll admit I joined in too. She popped up red faced with tears in her eyes.

"Maximum Ride, you are a freak of nature! A freak, and a real bitch too! You'll die alone someday, you freaking weirdo!" She yelled. I just stood there and stared back into her fiery green eyes. Sparks practically flew from them, she was spitting mad. The little Chinese woman came bustling over as Lissa angrily freed herself from the trashcan.

"Girls, girls!" she shouted. "Did you not just listen to a word I just said?" She had a strange look in her eyes. I cocked my head to the side, wondering why she was interfearing with this.

"No, actually I didn't." Lissa said bitterly under her breath. It wasn't very loud, but I have a feeling the woman can hear better than she lets on.

"Please...you must get along. We are born to love and be loved."

"Yeah, whatever lady." Lissa said angrily, starting to stalk out of the room. I had obviously put her in a bad mood. "Why don't you go home and eat some wontons or something." She dashed out the door, her shoes clicking down the stairs. Even her footsteps sounded angry. The woman turned to me.

"You must love everyone. No one deserves to be treated with such hostility. Put yourself in their shoes." Okay...she was really starting to get annoying.

"Listen..." I said, trying to be gentle with my words, "I appreciate that you came here to make this whole speech thing, but I don't need someone to preach to me about how to live my life. I can take care of myself and I can make my own descions. So just...stay out of it." And with that, I left her. Standing there in the middle of all the kids exiting. And when I left...she had the STRANGEST look in her eye. Almost like she knew something I didn't.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I burst from the gym, just about angry enough to kill. My feet hammered down the stairs as I tried to escape. All the laughter was ringing in my ears and I couldn't rid the sound from my head. I felt I would go crazy if I didn't get out. I finally made it to the refuge of the girls bathroom, and proceeded to lock myself in the stall. The tears poured freely now, down my cheeks and neck. My makeup would be ruined, but I tried not to care. Everyone would laugh at me anyways. That's just the way it is in this jungle we call middle school. I sniffled, feeling quite pathetic. What I don't understand is why she can't just leave me alone? What did I ever do to her to make her hate me so much. Well...I'm sure there was a few times when I wasn't as nice to her as I could have been, but other than that... I mean...I never did anything too terrible to make her hate me to this extent. She just ruins everything! She steals Fang away from me, and she always embarasses me in front of everybody with her clever comebacks. I sometimes wish that I was as clever and nice as she was. Maybe than Fang would like me the way he likes Max. Maybe then, I could finally be happy. No! There was no way I was jelous of Maximum Ride. The only reason anyone likes her is because she's an orphan or something, and they all pity her. Speaking of which...why does Fang like her? I mean...they're brother and sister sort of. Aren't they. Well...step brother and sister. Or whatever it is they are. Still...its wierd. Maybe there's something more to this after all. A dirty little secret perhaps? Well...I guess I'll just have to do a little digging around. I smiled at my cleverness for noticing something like this. I heard someone enter the bathroom and decided it was time to leave. After a quick makeup fix, I made my way to my locker to get my books. God! I was so hungry right now. I would kill for something to eat. I was on a diet, so I hadn't eaten breakfast, and all I'd had for lunch was a Coke and a little Chex Mix. When I wrenched open my locker, something fell to the floor. Picking it up, I realized that it was a fortune cookie.

"What the heck?" I muttered to myself. I must have put it in my backpack at some point. Either way, it was food and I was starving. I tore the wrapper off, feeling only slightly guilty that I was cheating on my diet. When I cracked it open, this is what the fortune said.

_Open your eyes and see what has always been right in front of you _

I snorted. Okay than...apparently I needed glasses. I shoved the cookie in my mouth, grabbed my books and then dashed off to class.

* * *

**Max's POV **

After abondoning Chang Lee or whatever her name was back there, I ran to my locker to get my books. I was steamed about Lissa. She always overreacts to everything, and she blames me for even the stupidist things. It gets so freaking annoying after awhile! I can't believe she thinks it's me whose causing all the problems. Can't she see that it's all her? She just pushes, and pushes until I feel like I'm about to burst! I took a deep breath. I didn't have time to stew over this. I had class, and if I was late for another, they'd surely call Anne and then I'd be in deep shit. I opened my locker, and something tumbled to the floor. It was a fortune cookie! Anne or somebody must have slipped it in my backpack this morning. I picked it up and tore the wrapper off. Cracking it open, I pulled out the tiny slip of paper with the tips of my fingers. This is what the small print said:

_Open your eyes and see what has always been right in front of you _

I rolled my eyes. I think I've been enlightened enough for one day. Shoving the fortune cookie into my mouth, I grabbed the books I needed and then made my way to class, still trying to get the thought of the Chinese woman's strange look out of my head.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that took so long to update. Really, I am. I guess I'm partly lazy and partly busy. :( Sorry, no excuses. I'll try to get the next chapter up faster, but the minute I promise something, it won't happen. That's what I get for being so lazy. Again...apologies to all. Pease forgive me. ^.^ Aww...how can you say no to that? Thanks to all those people who put this story as one of their favorites, or marked it so they would know when I update. Really appreciate it guys, thanks for everything. :D

**In Random News: **

I found this amazing band the other day. It's called Jack's Mannequin. The song lyrics are really awesome. It's kind of an underground band, so it's hard to find alot of their stuff. But, you can find a bunch of it on Playlist .com My personal favorites by them are 'Bruised' and 'Dark Blue'. They're really good, I encourage you to check them out. Tehe. Sorry, I like to share my music. 'Tis fun. If you know any good bands, feel free to share them with me too! I'm always looking for good music. :D

Also...SocialVibe is doing something cool right now. They've teamed up with To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) to help raise money for the cause. :D So if you have a SocialVibe on Myspace or Facebook, everytime you do an activity on either, you're helping earn donations. And if you have a SocialVibe WordPress, everytime someone clicks your widget (luv that word!), you're helping too. Yay! Sorry...kind of a charity freak, especially with this sort of thing.

And lastly, people do not consume enough chocolate chip cookies in a day. Go ahead and have an extra one for all those who have cookie shortages.

Please Review! Please... this cute ferret like face commands you to. ^.^ Is it working? Okay...how about... **I am Jaffar! I command you to review! **Okay...just please...


	3. Switched

**A/N: **Wow...long time, no see, fellow fanfictioners. I'm back yet again with another one of my short bursts of creativity that will result in the chapter you're about to read. It's been awhile since I last updated, and I guess I figured it was now or never. If I don't update soon, I'll never finish this story, and you guys would be left with an uncompleted story, wondering when (if ever) it would be completed. So...getting it out of the way then. Let's get started, shall we?

* * *

**Chapter 3: Switched! **

**Max's POV **

I was having the strangest dream.

I was perched on a chair in a room that was completely empty. No one else was with me, but I had that creepy feeling that I was being watched. It didn't feel like I had to be anywhere imparticular, but I felt like I'd have to leave soon. The walls were that disgusting, generic grey you see in prison movies alot. The floor and ceiling were a perfect match, and it was almost enough to confuse me as to which way was up. Everything seemed sterile, and too clean. Almost like a person with an OCD had been living here for a couple weeks. I sat in silence, watching the lack of movement in the room. Even I seemed immobile at the moment. Then, the scene suddenly changed. I wasn't in a slate grey room anymore, but the chair still remained. I wasn't alone anymore, either. As I sat on my little wooden chair, I was suddenly surrounded by about a hundred Lissas, all seated in chairs...all staring right at me. After a minute, I climbed to my feet. All the Lissas suddenly got to their's too. I focused on the one that was right in front of me. We approached eachother, and were soon standing almost nose to nose, our heads cocked to the side in confusion.

"What--?" I started to say, but she opened her mouth at the exact same moment, as if to ask me the same question. "What are you doing here?" I tried again, but Lissa managed to ask the question at the exact same time. We both let out a sigh of frustration. Then something caught my eye...her eyes weren't their usual bright green, but a chocolatey brown. They weren't hard and sour either, they were almost...too old for her. Her eyes looked more aged than the rest of her. She returned my puzzled expression, and we both raised our arms, reaching out to touch the other. Then everything got weird. Well....you know....weirder than being trapped alone in a room with a hundred Lissas. Where my hand was supposed to meet hers, I felt only cool glass. My eyes got wide along with hers. I stepped back, and was startled when every single Lissa in the room did exactly the same thing. I looked down at my hands. Why was I wearing purple nail polish? I never wear nail polish. And my clothes.... Suddenly...everything made since. Those weren't hundreds of Lissas in the room with me. I was in a room of mirrors**. I was Lissa. **

* * *

"Ahhhhhhh!" I shot up, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, having done a face plant into the carpet. I sighed deeply, relieved that it had only been a dream. I lay there for a couple more minutes, running my hands through the thick carpet. Wait a minute....my room doesn't have carpet. It's hardwood! I jumped to my feet only to find myself surrounded by unfamiliar furniture. "Where the hell am I?" I said quietly to myself. My first thought was that The School had somehow gotten ahold of me, and put me in some sort of room that was supposed to simulate an average teen girl's room to see what I would do. I glanced at the alarm clock that sat on the table. It was five in the morning...on a Saturday.

_"Okay, Max..." _I thought in my head. _"Alright...the first thing you need to do, is find out exactly where you are, okay?" _I always felt better when I had a plan. I began looking around the room. Nothing seemed to be able to give me an answer. The bed was just a random bed, and the dresser drawers were filled with regular clothes. Very expensive looking clothes, but clothes none the less. Magazines, weight-loss bar wrappers, and crumpled pieces of paper covered most of the floor. I bent down to pick up a piece of the paper, and uncrinkled it. Inside was a fairly good sketch of a woman holding an umbrella as she walked through what looked like a park. It was unfinished, though. The next couple I picked up were all very good, but incompleted. Bending over to pick up another one, I nearly lost my balance and stepped backwards to regain it. Unfortunately, a bean bag chair had been conveniently placed there, and I fell backwards, thunking to the floor and knocking my head against something hard. I swiveled around and found the culprit had been a mirror. My eyes grew wide as I stared at my reflection. I gulped. I think I found my answer....

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I woke from a restless sleep, hardly able to remember the dream I had just had. It had something to do with a room full of mirrors. I think Max had been there for some reason, but it was slipping away as I lay in the dark, watching the ceiling. It was so pitch black in my room that I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I glanced to my left where my table was, but my alarm clock that usually shone red in the darkness was not visible. It must have come unplugged for some reason. I started to roll off the bed, my eyes still a little blurry from sleep. My feet touched hard, cold ground. That's strange....why was my floor cold? I had carpeted floors. I put both feet down onto the ground, but it was not carpet that they touched, but hardwood flooring. I jumped a little, and spun around. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness a little, I could see that there was less furniture in this room than in mine. This was not my room.

"Where the hell am I?" I said to myself in awed silence. My back felt stiff and kinda odd. I felt heavier in some way. I reached up to run my fingers through my hair, but instead of my usual curls, my fingertips touched straight, snarled hair. I gasped. What was going on? Glancing down at my hands, I noticed that they looked different. I dashed across the room, and quickly found the light switch. The light allowed me to see the room fully, but I wasn't very interested in where I was at the moment. I found the nearest mirror, concealed behind the closet door. I hurriedly pulled it out and stared into it for a long while. I must have stared at my reflection for five whole minutes before the situation really got a hold of me. And when it did, I opened my mouth and let out a scream that cut through the heavy silence like a knife. Correction....like a three foot sword.

* * *

**Max's POV **

Staring back at me in the mirror with a frenzied expression and a wild look to her, was Lissa. Except...this wasn't Lissa. It was me. When I moved, she moved. When I blinked, she blinked. We blinked. I blinked. My breath was beginning to come out in short gasps. I was panicking. Why should I? Weirder things have happened to me. I have freaking wings on my back! But here I sat, staring pointlessly at a mirror, in a strange place, not knowing what to do. Not even trying to figure out what to do. I pushed my newly frail fingers up against the chilly glass, and watched as Lissa did the same. No...I watched my reflection do the same. I pressed hard against the glass, almost willing it to break so I didn't have to look anymore. Willing myself to fall through, for me to wake up, for something to happen that would explain this madness.

"Lissa?!" A smokey, hoarse shout startled me. "Lissa, what the hell are you doing in there?! It's five in the morning, and I'm trying to sleep!" I was quiet for awhile, not sure how to respond. Was this Lissa's mom shouting outside the door?

"Uh...." I stuttered, trying to think. How would Lissa respond? "Umm....sorry. Spider..." Was that really the best I could do? I winced at my stupid answer. The door opened suddenly. I jumped to my feet, trying to think of what to do. A bony, frail woman appeared in the doorway, light from the hallway pouring into the darkened bedroom. Her own red, curly hair hung limp and tangled at her bony shoulders. The skin was stretched tight across her face, the only wrinkle in her milky skin being the permanent frown lines that seemed to cling to her face. I suppose she would have been beautiful if she hadn't been so thin and sour looking.

"Lissa...just go to bed. I have work in the morning, you know that." She sighed, seeming stressed, and rubbed her temples as though she had an excruciating headache.

"Uh...um, sorry. I guess I'll just..." I trailed off, trying to sound comfortable. As though I wasn't in a strange place with a strange woman. She opened her glazed over eyes, and for the first time, I saw that they were a startling shade of grey. Cold and empty.

"And clean this room." she said, looking around. "Jesus Christ, what the hell have you been doing in here? It looks like shit..." We were both silent for a moment, and then she abruptly left the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. The lingering smell of smoke reached my nostrils and I attempted to fan it away. That was not at all the type of woman I'd expected Lissa's mom to be. I always imagined her as being someone who carried around a little dog, and drank coffees with fancy names, and only ate salads all day. I mean, my imangination had pictured her having at least some fakey plastic nails, or something. But this woman was the exact opposite. She was skinny, and weary looking, and she smelled like ciggaret smoke and cheap perfume. But, of course, Lissa's mother was the least of my worries right now. I chanced a nervous glance at the mirror, almost hoping that it would be the real Max that stared back at me. Not the Max in Lissa's body. I sighed seeing as I still had curly red locks and a bigger ass.

_"Haha...sorry, Lissa_." I though sarcastically as I examined my new reflection. Up close, I realized that not everything had changed. While Lissa's eyes were green, the reflection that stared back at me had my usual chocolatey brown ones. It was an odd thing to take comfort in, but the feeling of something familiar relaxed me a bit. I wondered if my body would have Lissa's green eyes when she was in it. My breath caught in my throat. Lissa was in my body. LISSA WAS IN MY BODY! I glanced at the clock. 5:30 A.M. What if she had woken up? What if she'd seen my wings?! How would I explain that one? I glanced at the window. It was the only chance I had. I had to get to Lissa before she woke up and saw my wings. I wasn't sure where it would go from there, but I just had to make sure she didn't see them. I could hear Lissa's mom fumbling around downstairs, probably getting ready for work. The window was my only escape route. I cracked the blinds open. It was raining softly, making for a slippery situation on the roof, but I'd been in far worst predicaments. I slid the glass pane as far up as it would go, and then pushed out the mesh covering. Sliding my slim legs out onto the wet rooftop, I struggled to get hold of something. It was hard getting used to Lissa's body. She wasn't nearly as strong as I was, and her feet and hands were smaller. All in all, this was not my favorite way of going about things. I looked down below me as I shifted further out onto the roof. I had never been afraid of heights, but everything seemed more intimidating without the comfort of wings. I took a deep breath and began to shift down towards the edge. If I could make it that far, I could find some way to get myself onto the ground. This was going to take some getting used to. I was almost there. Just a few more inches. I lowered my foot to try to gain hold of a little bump that seemed to have formed in the roof. The rain water had made it slippery, so it was hard to get a steady grip on it. Suddenly, my foot flung out from underneath me, and, startled, I let my grip ease. My fingers crumpled under the weight, and I couldn't hang on. I was falling. Falling the long way down to the ground. No wings to save me now, I closed my eyes and waited for my body to crash down to the hard earth below me.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

As my scream tore through unfamiliar lips, I placed my fingers to the chilled glass harshly, and pushed myself away from the offending mirror. As I scrambled backwards, I couldn't seem to force myself to look away from the reflection that filled the mirror. A frantic looking Max Ride stared back at me in wide-eyed horror. My breathing was coming out in short, shallow bursts as I placed my hands up to the face that shone in the mirror. I watched as the reflection did the same, and nearly screamed again. Suddenly, I heard footsteps thunking towards the door, and I jumped to my feet, knowing enough to try to prevent whoever it was from coming in. Moving faster than I would have thought myself capable of, I wrapped my hands around the cold knob and leaned my weight into the door, bracing myself for the person outside to slam into it. A large bang that jolted the door forward announced that whoever it was had reached their destination. But I was surprisingly able to hold my own and the door stayed shut.

"Max?! Max, what's wrong?!" Wait a minute...I knew that voice. I was sure of it, though I'd never heard it as frantic as it sounded now. I released the knob and pulled the door open slightly. Fang slid into view as the light from the room I occupied poured into the stretch of hallway where he stood. He squinted as the light hit his face, his eyes not yet having adjusted to the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Fang..." I murmered under my breath. He stared at me in confusion as I gawked at him. I suppose it was kind of abnormal for Max to do this sort of thing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't Lissa anymore. That I needed to act like Max. At least until I could figure this whole thing out.

"Ummm...what are you doing?" He asked quizically, peeking over my shoulder to look into the room behind me. I was speechless for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"Sorry, nightmare." I said. My reply sounded oddly cheerful, only because I was glad to see him. Of course, this really wasn't great circumstances. I suddenly felt self-concious, being in this unfamiliar body, and wearing no makeup as the boy I was in love with stood in front of me. His expression turned suddenly sympathetic, and I felt my knees start to shake as he looked down at me. I had never seen him look at me this way, and I was enjoying every second of it.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked quietly. It took all of my will power not to say yes. The only way I convinced myself to say no was to remind myself of the disasterous consequences such a situation would present me with. I finally managed to shake my head no, and was about to explain when something behind Fang caught my eye. A little girl with long, blonde curls and big, blue eyes stepped out from behind the corner. Her thin arms were wrapped around a fuzzy teddy bear, and her eyes were filled with sleepiness.

"Max?" Her voice was soft and wispy, almost angelic. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" I found myself at a loss for words as she stared at me.

"Nothing, Ang. Everything's fine." Fang replied for me. "Just go back to bed, okay?" A small smirk lit up the little girl's face at his answer.

"Only if you tuck me in." She said playfully. Fang groaned, but complied and the little girl hurried out of sight, giggling. Fang turned back to me as he started to follow her.

"Try to keep it down, next time." He said, with the hint of a smirk playing on his lips as well. "You probably woke the neighbors. No...you probably woke Gazzy, and **that** is saying something." Soon, he disappeared as well, and I was left to stand alone at the doorway of a strange room in a strange house. I peeked my head back into the room to check the time, before remembering that there was no clock in this room. I sighed, and tried to think of what to do. Stepping into what I assumed was Max's room, I stood in front of the mirror again. My red curls had been replaced with a dirty blonde crows nest, and the bags under my eyes suggested many a sleepless night. Up close, I realized that it was still my emerald greens that stared back at me. At least I got to keep my eyes. Suddenly, it struck me that Max must be in my body. Unless her 'being' had randomly combusted out of nowhere, I couldn't imagine that she would be anywhere else. I wondered whether she had even woken up yet to realize that she was trapped inside my body. I walked over to the windows and looked outside. Even through the light rain, I could see the road a distance away from the house. If I followed the road, and took a right at the third cross way, I could reach my house. On foot, the whole journey would probably take about fifteen or twenty minutes. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a baggy t-shirt of some sort and a pair of holey sweats. I shook my head. There was no way I was going out like this. Even if I was trapped in somebody else's body, there was no reason I couldn't look at least a little attractive. I tiptoed over to the dresser that seemed to almost hide in the corner. Even after nearly turning out every drawer, I couldn't find anything. I finally settled on one of the few pairs of jeans she owned that didn't make it feel like you were wearing swiss cheese for pants. I didn't feel the need to change my shirt, as practically all the others she owned were more t-shirts.

"If I'm gonna be stuck in here for a while, I _need _to get this girl some new clothes." I muttered to myself, looking at my reflection. Well...it didn't look that bad. I guess Max could pull off the homeless-chick look. I decided it would be a little weird if I randomly left with no explanation at all, and quickly found a piece of paper and a pen to write a quick note to whoever decided to wander in here to find Max.

_Dear guys, _

Guys was the best way I could think of to sum up the strange band of people she lived with. I shook my head and continued to scrawl down the page.

_I left for a little while. Had to get out. Don't worry, I'll be back ASAP. _

_Love, Lis _

I paused and scratched out what had been about to be my name, replacing it with Max in big letters. Hopefully, it would pass inspection. I placed it on the table that sat by the bed, and then hurried over to the window. Second floor. There was no way I was getting out the window without killing myself. Maybe if I was **really **quiet, I could sneak out without being heard. I checked her drawers once more, but she had absolutely no makeup whatsoever. Not even lipgloss. I grew irritated with her. How can you be a teenage girl, and not have at least one, if not multiple tubes of lipgloss? I guess you have to be Max Ride. I did find a brush, though. After untangling the mess that seemed to pile ontop of my head, I snuck to the door. Ever so quietly, I creeped down the stairs, careful not to make even the slightest of noises. Soon I was slipping out the front door. It was colder than I expected, and I suddenly regretted not having put on a jacket or something. Oh well...no turning back now. I wasn't even wearing shoes. It's funny what you can forget when you wake up in somebody else's body. I sighed, and started off towards the road. The only comforting sound to ease my anxiety was the smooth, steady rhythym of my bare feet slapping against the wet asphalt.

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A/N: Well that only took a century to write. This time, I have prepared my list of excuses ahead of time.

1. Christmas. Nuff said

2. I actually got sick during Christmas break. Sucks, doesn't it. I could hardly stand, let alone write fanfic.

3. I suffered from a terrible disease these last few days. Its called writers block. 12 out of every 4 people in Taiwan and the U.S. suffer from writers block!!

Actually, some random person reviewed for me on Christmas, saying they really wanted me to update. I had actually almost forgotten about this story, and if they hadn't said something, you probably wouldn't be reading this right now. So I guess you have them to thank for this. Allright, this chapter turned out kinda iffy, because I kinda got out of touch with the story. I really don't want that to happen again, so I'm going to make a deal with you guys. I'm giving myself until Friday night (that's the 8th, I do believe) to get the next chapter up. If it's not up by then, I want you guys to PM me, harrassing me. Yelling at me for being such a lazy ass. That's right. Yell at me, torture me, diss my mama. Whatever you feel like. If I don't have my chapter up by Friday night, kk? Here...take these... *Arms you with virtual tomatoes and shoes to throw at me when necessary* Okay...now that that's all taken care of, I'm pretty sure there's nothing left to say.

Well, review. Reivew....Review....Review...Review...Review...I'm just gonna keep doing this until it drives you insane, and you just have to click that review button. Review...Review...Review...Review.


	4. Explanations and Toaster Pastries

A/N: Hahaha! I got it up before anybody could yell at me. Let's celebrate! *Random confetti falls from the sky* Yay!!!!!!!!!!! Wouldn't it be awesome to have the power to make random confetti fall from the sky whenever you want to. That would defintely be my superpower if I could have one. It'd just be like... "Happy Birthday!" and bam...confetti would fall at my will. Or..."I'm sorry to say that your cat has died." Bam! Confetti would fall. Then, of course, you'd kinda have to apologize for celebrating Whiskers' death. Poor Whiskers. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Onto the story, good knight! Or....I guess if you really want to be, you could be a dragon, or a jester or something. I'd even consent to you being a Night Elf if you really wanted to... Whatever melts your butter...

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**Chapter 4: This Just Proven: Toaster Pastries Increase Your Chances of Coming Up With Productive Ideas!**

**Lissa's POV **

I finally rounded the corner that led to the street my house occupied. Even though it was only drizzling, I had managed to get myself substantially wet on my way over here. The driveways of the neighboring houses were mostly empty, so I figured it must be around 6:00 a.m. ish, when everybody left for work. I guess that's fairly early, but nearly everyone in my neighborhood worked jobs way on the other side of town just like my mom. And of course, everyone thinks they're being clever when they leave early to 'beat the morning traffic', when really everybody else had the same idea and now everyone's on the road, trying to be clever, but really just causing more traffic.

I sighed, reluctant to accept the fact that our society is a generation of caffeinated narcisists, who think every idea they'll ever have will be one the _no one else_ would ever have the brains to think up. Our driveway was empty too. My mom worked the day shift as a nurse in the hospital downtown. On weekends, she worked the nightshift. Weekends at our place were awful. I fixated my attention on the rusty wind chimes that clinked on our porch, not wanting to bring on an unnecessary wave of emotion.

As I made my way up my slick driveway, I noticed something strange. My window had been thrown wide open, and the screen was cast aside a few feet down the roof, resting in the gutter. I cocked my head to the side. I guess that meant she had already woken up. The front door was unlocked, as always, and I quietly let myself in, not sure what to expect. The whole house was dark, the way my mom left it when she departed to go wipe noses. As I trudged around the corner, I saw that the light in the downstairs bathroom had been flicked on. The door was mostly shut, but you could never quite seem to close it all the way, so it stayed cracked slightly open. I could hear rustling and what sounded like mumbled cursing from behind the door. Praying that it wasn't my mother, who for some reason was running late, and had parked in the garage, I placed my fingertips gently against the wood of the door, not quite pushing it open.

The fumbling stopped suddenly, and everything went quiet. I couldn't even hear breathing from the other side. I slowly pushed the door open. It was weird. Seeing myself staring back at me. But there I stood, wide eyed and incredulous. "Max?" I muttered slowly, watching the me that stood pressed up against the bathroom wall. There was a long pause in which we both just stared. She finally nodded, her shoulders relaxing a bit as she studied me as well. I guess it would be wierd for her, too. She saw herself when she looked at me, just as I saw me when I looked at her.

"Lissa..." was all she said. It seemed unatural for me to see myself talk to me. But...it _was _unatural. Everything about this situation was unatural. From the first strands of newly blonde hair that stuck out at odd angles on my head, right down to my worn and calloused feet. It was all strange, and wild, and odd. But it was happening. Right now.... Max shifted slightly away from me, and I saw for the first time that she cradled her arm against her chest, as though protecting it. A roll of bandages lay on the side of the sink.

"What did you do?" I asked her, looking from the bandages to her cradled arm, afraid to put the two together. "What did you do to my arm?" She was silent for a minute.

"I...I think I might have broken it." She said bluntly, now moving to grab the bandages.

"Wh-What?" I stuttered. "What?! You broke my arm?! What the hell were you even doing?!" I shouted, angry that she had been so careless with my body. She seemed irritated with me, and that only deepened my anger. "I can't believe it. You actually broke my arm."

"Look." she said defensively. "I didn't do it on purpose, okay? I was trying to get out onto the roof, but it was wet, so I slipped, and..." She trailed off, gesturing to the crippled arm she was attempting to bandage. "I'm sorry." I nearly gasped.

"I'm sorry? You broke my freaking arm, and all you can say is I'm sorry?!" She rolled her eyes, and I could feel the anger bubbling up inside me.

"I'm bandaging it, it should be fine. It's really the least of our worries right now."

"It's my body! You can't just go around and be all careless just because it's not technically you! I'm the one who has to live with the long-term consequences, here!" I shouted, not believing that she could just brush this off.

"I said I'm sorry, okay!" she burst out suddenly. There was a moments pause, as she tried not to loose it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break your arm, but there's nothing I can do about it now." I opened my mouth to interrupt, but she pressed on, having obviously lost her patience with me. "We have bigger things to deal with than yell at eachother over a broken bone. The bone will heal on it's own. Our situation, however, may not be so temporary if we don't figure out what to do. Now...are we going to sit here and argue all day, or are we gonna calm down and at least try to cooperate so we can figure this whole mess out?"

"Well...I'd vote for argue all day, but it'd be kinda wierd to beat myself in an argument, so I'm just gonna be quiet." She sighed heavily at my snarky comment, and sat down on the toilet to bandage the remainder of the exposed broken arm. I watched as she patiently rolled layer after layer until the whole arm was nearly covered. It bothered me that someone could be so patient. I can hardly sit still as it is, but there she is wasting minute after minute just bandaging the freaking arm. It was going to drive me insane! Finally, she finished and stood up to replace the bandages before exiting the bathroom. I jumped up from where I had been leaning against the wall and quickly followed her. "Hey, where are you going?" I called as she turned the corner to the kitchen.

"Well...I didn't really want to plan this whole thing in a _bathroom,_ so I decided to come out here. That okay with you, _mom?_" I glared as she seated herself at the table, looking awfully relaxed to be in a house she had never been in before. I decided to at least attempt a bit of civility, and seated myself at the opposite end of the table. We sat quietly for a minute, just studying eachother. Trying to get used to the weird sensation of looking across the room and seeing yourself staring right back at you. "Why are you me?" she said suddenly. I rose my eyebrows at her. She didn't seem to be talking directly to me, perhaps just thinking out loud.

"I don't know. Why are _you me?" _I retorted. She didn't even say anything, just went on staring right at me. It began to make me uncomfortable and I could feel myself squirm in my skin. "What are you looking at?" I asked. It came out quite harshly. Almost like a challenge.

"Someone else trapped inside my body." she said matter-of-factly, getting up from the table and wandering over to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer and studied it's contents for a second before pulling out a box of toaster pastries.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked, climbing up from the table as well.

"Making breakfast. Want some?" She wiggled a toaster pastry at me and I cringed. All the calories....She studied my expression. "Suit yourself." She popped four pastries into the toaster, and then tossed the now empty box into the trash.

"This is still _my _house, you know." I said irritably as she rummaged through our drawers.

"And _I'm _still hungry." She poured herself a glass of orange juice, and then grabbed the pastries, shoving one hungrily into her mouth.

"Hey....be careful how many of those you eat. I know you eat like a lumberjack, or whatever, but that's my body you're in. So...if you could just be more careful." She rolled her eyes.

"Sure thing." she said sarcastically, cramming another one in her mouth. Great....not only do I get stuck as Maximum freaking Ride for a day, but when I actually return to my body, I'll be a fat ass. Thanks, Max...Thanks... I watched her hungrily eat the second pastry, when she suddenly paused. "Funny..." she muttered to herself. I looked at her questioningly. "I'm full. That's odd. Normally I can put away, like, six of these and still be hungry." I cringed at the thought, but I was at least relieved that she seemed to have lost her appetite. "You want?" she asked, pushing the remaining pastries towards me. I was about to shake my head when I felt my stomach rumble hungrily. Another few seconds of staring at it, and the pastry won me over. I ate the whole thing, and suddenly I was on my second one. And I was starving even after that!

"Oh my god, I'm so hungry." I said, glancing around the kitchen. I hadn't even realized it until now, but I was starving. "Why am I so hungry?" Max snorted.

"Dude...you're in my body, that's why. Just eat." I got up from the table and started assembling a hearty breakfast for myself, feeling strange and completely out of character. Max, meanwhile leaned back in her chair and stared off into space, thinking. "Okay..." she muttered, half to herself and half to me. "Well...you're in my body, and I'm in your body. Right..." I rolled my eyes.

"Ya know...just repeating that over and over again isn't exactly helping the whole 'lets-figure-this-mess-out' thing." I said pointedly, pouring myself a bowl of Coco Puffs. Max ignored me, and continued to mumble pointless nonsense. I rolled my eyes and went on to buttering a piece of toast. I don't remember ever being hungrier in my life.

"So...maybe...this is some sort of...curse...a spell of some sort." My eyebrows shot up my forehead as she said this.

"You think that some sort of...voodoo witch doctor did this to us...Wow, Max. Wow."

"Lissa, we _switched bodies_. I think we're past rationalizations for right now." She was starting to get cross with me, and it was really getting on my nerves. What does she expect me to do? Just accept the fact that I've been cursed, and move on with life? I don't think so. "Really, what other ideas do we have?" I thought for a minute.

"Oh, I know!" I said, dropping the knife I was using. It clattered against the counter and left a trail of strawberry jam where it had carved it's path. "I saw this thing...In a movie! Where the two people switched bodies, and they....they just ran into eachother to switch themselves back." I gestured eagerly with my hands, simulating two things colliding. Max rose her eyebrows in skepticism. "Oh come on, it's worth a try. We listen to all your weird ball ideas." I grumbled.

"Alright, alright. Quit whining, we'll try your....collision theory." She scooted away from the table and positioned herself at the end of the long hallway that led to the kitchen. "'Kay, ready when you are." she said, sounding slightly reluctant. I grew annoyed. Sure...we had to listen to all _her_ ideas, but apparently mine weren't good enough. I came to stand at the back wall of the kitchen, pressing myself up against it so that I could spring forward when it was time to run. "Okay..." she said, sounding a little nervous, "On the count of three. One...two...three!" I shot forward as fast as I could, and watched as Max did the same thing. I was soaring across the kitchen floor for a fraction of a second and then....

**SMACK! **

"Ouch! Mother--" a stream of profanites poured from both of our mouths as we lay, crumpled, on the floor in agony. Perhaps we had smacked into eachother with a little too much force.

"Well, that didn't work too well." Max groaned, rolling onto her side as she clutched her nose. Dear god, I hope she hadn't broken that too.

"Yeah...it didn't work in the movie, either." I groaned as I sat myself up. Surprisingly, it hadn't hurt nearly as bad as I had expected. Maybe Max's body was a little more durable. Kinda nice... Max froze and rolled back over to face me, an angry expression clouding her face.

"You might have mentioned that...I don't know...EARLIER?! Preferably **before** we decided to test it out!" She yelled, waving her arms in exasperation.

"Hey...you're the one that said we'd been cursed or whatever. I mean, come on. Cursed?" I retorted, defending my idea. "At least I thought of something productive. Unlike _some_ people I know..." I elbowed her pointedly, springing up off of the floor and stretching out. Max stayed on the floor, but rolled over onto her stomach and propped her elbows up, resting her head in her hands. I grabbed my slightly soggy bowl of cereal and began to pace circles around the table as I ate. A whole five minutes of silence passed, and I could feel myself growing impatient. Another five minutes. It was driving me crazy! "Jesus Christ! Say something, already! I can't stand just sitting here and doing nothing." I pouted, tossing my empty bowl into the sink. It clattered to a still and everything was quiet again. Max had apparently decided not to answer. "Max--!" I started.

"The only idea I have is the curse thing, and apparently, we already ruled that out." She was snapping at me again, and I knew she too had grown impatient with our situation. I groaned loudly and angrily.

"Alright, fine. We're cursed. Anything to get us doing _something_." More silence followed my reluctant acceptance of our position, and I felt like screaming. "So...what do we do now?" I asked, trying to keep calm.

"I'm not sure. I don't know what to do with this sorta stuff. I've never...been cursed before." She laughed bitterly at her observation, climbing to her feet and started to pace too. "I guess we have to...reverse it or something. Although...I have absolutely no idea how." She was muttering to herself again. I still didn't know what to think of the whole 'curse' thing, but at least it was getting us somewhere. Suddenly, I had an idea.

"That girl." I said out of the blue. Max paused her pacing.

"What are you talking about?" I shook my head.

"That creepy girl you're always eating lunch with. The one with the blue hair and the nose stud." Max looked confused for a minute, trying to figure out where I was going.

"You think Emily cursed us?" I shook my head.

"No, no, not that. It's just...when I--er, borrowed that huge book from her, I noticed her bookmark. It was a folded up piece of paper. A printoff from some website. It was about all this curse stuff. You know, different kinds, and ways they're used and stuff like that." A look of realization formed on Max's face as I spoke.

"And you think she'll be able to tell us what to do." She looked off into the distance for a minute, thinking. "That actually might not be a bad idea. I mean, compared to your last one, this one might actually be useful." I glared at her. Did she really feel the need to snark at me every second of the day? What a child. "Okay...so, I guess we'll ask her and see what she says. One problem. We don't know where she lives, and I don't know her last name, so we can't look up the number." I watched her face fall as she thought our brilliant idea had been stopped in it's tracks. I hesitated, but decided it best just to tell her.

"It's--Her last name's Mead. Emily Mead." Max looked up at me in surprise, her eyes asking the question I knew was about to come out of her mouth. "We used to be in kindergarten together when we were little. I...went over to her house a couple times. And...I've seen her walking home before, so I'm pretty sure she still lives in the same place." Max looked shocked.

"Wow...you mean you had friends?" she said in mock surprise. I narrowed my eyes and huffed. "Anyways...great. I guess we can head over there, than." I glanced at the clock.

"Ummm, it's 7:30 in the morning, smart one." I stated, pointing to the clock. I saw her face fall a little bit.

"So we wait. No big deal." She seated herself at the table again, and leaned back, closing her eyes. How can she just chill at a time like this?

"Well...while you sit here, I'm gonna go change into something that_ doesn't_ make me look like a homeless person." I turned and exited the kitchen, thunking my way up the stairs to my room. I was just shutting the door, when I heard footsteps thundering up the stairs.

"Lissa! Wait! Don't do anything!" she yelled. I quickly locked the door. The handle wiggled as she tried to force it open. Meanwhile, I grabbed two shirts from my drawer and held them up to myself in the mirror. I tried to ignore that it wasn't me in the mirror, but it was proving hard. Everytime I glanced at my reflection, I gave a little squeak, thinking I was seeing someone else. She began pounding on the door. "Lissa! Listen, you can't take off your shirt! You can't!" I rolled my eyes. What was she afraid of? That I'd see her boobs, or rather lack there of? "Lissa!" More pounding accompanied the shouts. I decided on the blue tank top I picked up off the top of the dresser. Yeah...this would do for today. "Lissa, I swear, if you do not open up this door right now, I will break it down!" I rolled my eyes.

"Jeese, Max. Calm down. I'm not gonna strip down, I just wanna change. Take a chill pill. Or better yet, overdose on them." I looked back in the mirror and pulled off the ratty t-shirt. I watched as it fell to the ground. As I watched the shirt on the floor, a large feather floated down and landed delicately ontop of the pile of white fabric. I picked it up, turning it around in my hands curiously. I slowly ripped my gaze away from it to stare back at the reflection in the mirror. My eyes went wide and my hands grew numb, not able to feel the feather any more. Slowly, I began to stretch and watched in awe as a pair of light brown wings unfolded from my back. I could feel my muscles moving as they stretched the wings, but it felt like something else entirely. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't. But...the feather I held in my hands was living proof of what I saw in the mirror. I slowly reached back and felt my hand meet one of the soft, feathery wings. I felt my fingertips graze over every single one. I could feel it. It was real. And it was scary.

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**Max's POV **

I finally lost my patience with the locked door, and balled my fists up, smashing them down onto the door handle with all the force I could muster. It gave way with a creaky, swift click, and I practically kicked down the rest of the door anyways. I froze in my tracks as Lissa came into view. She stood at the foot of her bed, her shirt at her feet. She was gawking softly as her fingers stroked my wings. She didn't even pay attention to me as I walked over slowly, not sure what to say. She just continued to stare at a feather which she clutched tightly in her hands. I sunk down onto the floor and pulled my knees up to my chest. I didn't know what to say. Here I was, having just _switched_ bodies with the one girl I hated at school, and now she goes and finds out that I was a mutant. I had wings on my back, and now they were on hers. She was touching them, stroking them, looking at them. I suddenly felt violated. Like I was being cornered against my will and I could almost feel her hands on me. I shuddered.

"Max." I looked up. It was like she had just noticed that I was there. She lowered her hands to her sides, but kept the feather clutched tightly in her fist. We didn't say anything at all, just stared. For a long time, we just stared. "Wings...Why? Why are there wings?" She seemed to stutter, returning her hands to the wings. Her lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. Or maybe I just wasn't listening. My focus centered on every movement of her fingers on my wings. "Max?" She was saying my name again, but I didn't have anything to say. There was nothing that needed to be said. She knew my secret. Lissa Morgan knew my secret. It wasn't my secret anymore. I didn't have anything left. No walls. No nothing. She had seen everything. "Max?" I looked at her this time. Her eyes were confused and shocked.

"I guess...I have some explaining to do?" It came out like a question instead of a comment, but it didn't really matter at this point.

"Umm...ya think?!" Lissa said sarcastically, holding the feather out in front of her as though it explained everything.

"Well...what is there to say?" She looked shocked.

"What is there to say? What is there to say?! There's everything to say! Why the heck do you have wings?!" she yelled, gesturing wildly. I watched the wings quiver as she moved so frantically.

"Well..." I wasn't sure where to start. Just the basics. The basics would cover it for now. Satisfy her curiosity. "When--A couple of years ago. When I was just a kid, we...were at this place called The School." I stopped because a look of amazement had suddenly shone upon her face.

"Wait...we?! We, as in, the rest of your...group?!" she exclaimed. I froze. Great, Max...way to drag the other's down with you. "That means...oh god! Fang?!" She looked at me, her eyes burning with question. Slowly I nodded, giving up everything now. There was no point. Lissa wasn't stupid. Well...she wasn't _that _stupid. "Oh my god..." She muttered it over and over again, twisting the feather around in her hands. I watched as it crinkled and clumped under her anxious touch.

"The school," I went on as calmly as possible, "is a place...a really awful place, where they do all sorts of experiments on....things. One of their favorite things they like to do, it seems, is cross animal DNA with human DNA. Bird DNA..." I looked down at my feet, unable to go on any further.

"You--You're part bird?" she stuttered incredulously. I gave a slight, humorless laugh.

"Well...only two percent, but...yeah." Silence hung heavy in the air like a thick cloud of dust that never ceased to hover.

"Are you really related to...Fang and everyone else?" she asked out of nowhere. I simply shook my head. There was another bout of silence and suddenly. "Haha! I knew it! I knew you were a freak!" I glared. Of course. This was just like Lissa. Why had I expected she'd be any different if she found out my secret. She was just the same dopey cheerleader with an attitude problem. I huffed angrily and climbed to my feet, moving to leave the room. "Hey where are you going?" she yelled.

"You're on your own. I'm going to go find Emily and figure this thing out. You can go call all your friends and tell them everything in peace." I said bitterly.

"Hey...you can't just back out on me like this." She was angry now too.

"Oh yeah...I'm pretty sure I'm leaving aren't I?"

"Wait! I have dirt on you! You leave now, I tell everyone!" I froze as she said this, thinking.

"And, what? If I stay, you'll only tell your 'very close friends'? Yeah right..." I didn't have any reason to trust anything she said. The only hope I had was that nobody believed her. Then I remembered that she had evidence. She was in my body, after all. She could do whatever she wanted with it.

"No. If you stay, I won't tell anyone anything." I stared back at her. She seemed honest enough. I couldn't believe it. Were we reasoning with eachother? Cooperating? Making a plan? Even if blackmail was thrown into the bargain, it was still a major jump. I wasn't sure I liked it. "I promise. As long as you stay and help me figure this out, no one ever finds out." I paused.

"What's in it for you? What do you get that you're so eager to make an arrangement for?" I asked skeptically, knowing there would always be some, shallow reason behind everything that Lissa did. It was just the way she was.

"Well, I get my body back, of course. I get to be me again." she stated simply. I suppose that fact would be a bit of a gain on her part. I was just as eager as she was to get back in my own skin, but I still didn't know if I trusted her at all.

"You really think you can't get your body back by yourself? You think you need me to do it?" I asked, smirking as I saw what a spot this put her in. She would either have to admit that she needed me, Maximum Ride, to help her, or risk that I would walk away and leave her on her own.

"I know...that you could probably help me out. It's probably a...good idea if you stuck around." She tried to pass it off as a casual need for a little assistance, but I could see right through the whole show. She needed me _so_ bad! There was no way she could ever figure this out by herself, and she knew it. She was just too full of herself to admit it. I smirked, deciding to milk this for all it was worth.

"Beg." I said suddenly. She looked up, shocked.

"Excuse me?!" she asked in horror. I felt my smirk grow wider as she stood there, mortified that she had heard me correctly.

"Yeah, you heard me. Beg. I want you to get down on your knees and beg for me to stay." I said, enjoying my newfound power a little too much.

"Oh! There is no way I--" I cut her off before she could finish her complaint.

"No. You want me to stay, you have to get down and beg." I smiled widely as she stood there. Slowly, she sank down to the floor, her shirt still off, and rested on her knees, glaring up at me angrily. "Good...now beg." I leaned against the bed, pleased with myself. She mumbled something unintelligable. "What was that? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. You'll have to say that again."

"I--I need you to figure this out...." she mumbled, looking at the ground. I surpressed laughter.

"What was that? You'll have to speak up a little, dear." She gritted her teeth together, and raised her voice just above a whisper.

"I said, I need you to figure this out. So stay." I smiled. This was more like it. But I still wasn't fully satisfied.

"I'm sorry, can you say that one more time. My hearing today is just--"

"Goddammit! I can't do this without you, Max! I need you to stay! Please stay!" She yelled as loud as she could, rising up off of her knees. She huffed loudly as I smiled broadly. "There! Happy now?" she asked irritatedly.

"Immensly, Lissa. Immensly."

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A/N: Haha! Got it up before Friday. (Celebration Dance!!!!!) Yay!!!! Okay...thanks for reading. I feel like this chapter was kinda...lesbiany. Haha... OMG! LissaxMax. I never thought about that before! That would make for an interesting story. Relax...this is not one of those stories. Chill people...Chill. But still.... Anyways, a review would REALLY make my day. Pwease? For me...? ^.^ Clickety Clickety that review button. It feels untouched. Haha....the review button's lonely. Wow...untouched. Does that sound dirty? You betcha...you betcha....

**In Random News: **1. There was no random news last time. That was a first. :(

2. I was Googling around and I found this band called the Distillers. Good band. But...the main singer, Brody Dalle? She is HOT STUFF! I was like...Damn girl!

Anyways...that's pretty much all the random news I have. :( There's never any random news anymore....

REVIEW!


	5. Answers

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sad. My school is so puritan. Apparently, if you listen to rock music, you're the spawn of the devil or something. They dissed my music....:( Anyways, enough of my complaining! I just though I might as well put the next chapter up. Got nothing better to do. Well...I suppose I could do my homework or clean my room or something, but that would make me feel as if I were betraying teen society. Who does their homework voluntarily?!

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**Chapter 5: Answers **

**Max's POV **

I was sitting at Lissa's kitchen table, drinking an orange soda, waiting for her highness to come out of the throne room and honor me with her prescense. AKA: Waiting for Lissa to stop applying lip-gloss and get her butt out here so we could plan this whole thing. She had been up in her room FOREVER, playing around with all the makeup she owned, and trying on outfit after outfit. It would drive me insane if I had to do that every morning. I mean, I can hardly get out of bed and brush my teeth, let alone put on a fashion show. I drained the last of the soda from the can and tossed it into the garbage can. I watched, satisfied as it clinked into place with the other trash. Glancing at the clock, I realized it was 9:00 a.m. already. By the time we made it to Emily's house it would be close to 10:00.

Finally, I heard footsteps clomping down the stairs, and hopped up, ready to go get my body back. This whole no-wings thing really wasn't working for me. I dashed to the door and met Lissa at the foot of the stairs, eager to get out of here already. I stared, wide-eyed, seeing myself all dolled-up in makeup and wearing a skirt. I shook my head in amazement, wondering what other forms of humiliation she would put me through today. I was just glad we didn't have school.

She looked me up and down as I shuffled my feet impatiently, waiting for her to grab a jacket. "Uh-uh." she said suddenly. "There is no way you are going out like that." I stared at her, uncomprehending.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking down at my clothes. I had pulled on a pair of Lissa's jeans at random and slipped a sweatshirt on over the tang top I had woken up in. It wasn't bad at all.

"You're in _my _body, remember? I don't want to be seen dressing like...I don't know, a soccer mom?" She gestured to the jeans and sweatshirt ensemble, and I suddenly felt offended.

"Well, I don't really want to be seen dressed up as Malibu Barbie, but obviously, that was your outfit of choice. You get to wear what you want, and I'll wear what I want." Without another word, I slipped out of the door and onto the front porch. The rain had stopped by now, but the moisture still hung thick in the air. The sky was a faded grey, and a cool breeze was blowing around. Pretty nice day out, all in all.

Lissa apparently didn't think so. She bundled up in a jacket and scarf, feet clad in rainboots, and insisted on dragging an umbrella around with her. I rolled my eyes. Jeese...it was just a little rain. It's not like we were expecting a tsunami or something. "Lead the way." I motioned for her to start walking in the direction of Emily's house, and slowly followed as she tried to sidestep all the puddles that littered her driveway. Following Lissa was agonizing. She walked so slow! It was like being in fast-forward when everything else around you was in slow motion. Enough to drive anyone insane. We walked in silence most of the way. When we turned the corner to some rain-slicked street, she finally spoke.

"So...how long were you guys in that school place, anyways?" I mentally groaned. The last thing I had wanted her to do was start asking questions about my past. Of course, Lissa didn't usually make any attempt to cooperate with me, so this was nothing new. I thought for a minute before answering.

"I don't know exactly. The time all sorta blended together. It was a...couple of years." I said, studying my feet as I spoke.

"How'd you get out?" What was this?! Twenty questions?! I SO did not sign up for this. You know...in a metaphorical sense.

"Well...there was this...man there. He was one of the scientists. We thought he turned good and sided with us, 'cause he helped us get out. We lived with him before we...came here." I tried to answer as casually as possible, not really wanting to discuss Jeb at the moment. I still couldn't believe he had just walked out on us like that. I still couldn't believe it.

"Why did you stop living with him? He didn't die, did he?" Lissa pretended to care whether or not I was touchy on the subject. I could tell she could care less about whether our little chat was tugging on my heartstrings, though. I shrugged, trying to avoid getting angry at her today. It would just make everything so much more complicated if she refused to cooperate for some reason.

"Naw, he didn't die. He just...went his seperate way, and we went ours." I managed to twist the whole ordeal into something that sounded remotely civilized. Because walking out on a bunch of kids and leaving them to fend for themselves is not anywhere close to civilized. Though she was quiet now, I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my head as I kept my eyes on my bare feet. I realized I had purple polish on my toes as well.

"How'd you end up here?" she asked suddenly, almost accusingly. As if really asking 'why the hell did you have to decide to come here of all places?!'. I ran my hands through the curly hair that fell to my shoulders, trying to concentrate on just the feel of each individual strand beneath my fingers, instead of having to explain everything about me to my worst enemy. She had already picked me nearly dry of all personal information. All my secrets, every little detail I had built up for myself. I felt like a book who'd been left lying open for anyone to read. Screaming to be shut, but only able to lie there as wandering eyes read every word on the page. "Max?" Lissa prodded, and I begged myself not to snap.

"Well...we kinda had a bit of an accident and stuff. Anne kinda took us in after that." I shuddered, remembering Fang laying on the beach, blood seeping out from the wounds he had refused to tell us about. I looked down at my hands, almost to reassure myself that they were free of blood, unlike that day. The image still haunted my dreams sometimes. I waited for Lissa to ask another question, but to my surprise, she was silent. I followed her now distracted gaze, discovering it rested on a grey, two-story house sandwhiched in between the neighboring blue ones. The house was large, but not oversized, looking like the usual generic features that you found on houses had been tweaked to bring it some sense of originality. Large windows overtook most of the first floor walls, and a small balcony rested comfortably on the second story. Little baskets of light blue and purple flowers sat on the porch railings.

"It's almost exactly like I remember it." Lissa muttered, staring for a long moment at the house. I allowed her a minute to reminisce, and then became impatient, wandering up the walkway towards the front door. Lissa quickly caught up with me. She was just about to ring the doorbell, when I remember something important and grabbed her elbow to stop her. She tugged her arm away, looking annoyed.

"Just remember, you're in my body, so she's going to react differently than she usually would. She'll act like she does around me, okay?" Lissa glared at me, seeming to take my warning as more of a snub to her personality. Proceeding to ring the bell, she took a step back and for a second, I thought I saw something unusual flash in her eyes. Nervousness? A forgotten memory coming back to her? Unlikely. She was probably just trying to see her reflection in the window. She seemed to react to something going on on the other side of the door. A sound, maybe? I listened hard, but couldn't make out a thing. Than I remembered that I had traded in my sensitve ears for Lissa's own, pierced but somewhat useless ones. I sighed in frustration. This day just keeps on getting better, doesn't it. Hey...at least I've still got the whole sarcasm thing going for me.

The door slid open abruptly. It was odd not having the warning sings of small sounds like footsteps to rely on. A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway, peering up at us. She was short, and motherly looking, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and a pleasant smile. Her crystal blue eyes sparkled with slight confusion, as she took in the sight of two teenage girls standing on her front porch at 9:30 in the morning. "Ummm...can I help you?" she asked, sounding pleasant, but startled. I decided to do the talking, so Lissa didn't end up making a fool of herself, or insulting the poor woman. Surprisingly, though, she spoke up before I could.

"Hi, we're friends of Emily's from school. We're sorry to bother you so early, but we needed to discuss a school project with her, and we couldn't find her number anywhere..." she trailed off. I stared off at her with wide eyes, forgetting how well she could play that I'm-just-an-innocent-little-girl act when she needed to. The woman looked surprised for a moment before smiling widely, and opening the door fully so we could step inside. I followed Lissa into the spacious entry way and took in the feautures. Large coat stand, pictures crowding the walls, table with array of scarcely lit candles on it. A pretty generic, day-to-day house, if you ask me.

"Hold on one second." the woman I could only presume to be Emily's mom said. "Emily?!" There was no response, but I suddenly became aware of the hum of music floating softly downstairs. She probably had her speakers on. Her mother gave a little laugh. "Oh, she's always got those darn speakers on. Go on up; her room's the second door on the left." Lissa immediately hopped up the stairs, and I turned to thank the woman before taking the stairs myself. As we came close to the door, I could begin to hear unfamiliar lyrics from inside.

_"Note to self: I miss you terribly! This is what we call a tradgedy! Come back to me, back to me, to me!" _

Lissa stood at the door, just staring at it. Again, I thought she looked nervous. I began to wonder just what exactly it was she was thinking about. Maybe she knew Emily better than I thought. Though I could hardly imagine them having ever gotten along. Finally, she put her hand up to the door, and gave it a nice, sharp knock that could probably be heard over the music. When nothing happened, she tried again. The music suddenly paused and I could hear someone scrambling to get the door. Emily's face slid into view as the door cracked open, and a look of confusion shone on her features as she saw us. She looked over at Lissa, seeing me, and then back at me, seeing Lissa.

"Why are _you_ here?" she asked me accusingly. I tried to remind myself that it was Lissa she saw when she looked at me, but I still didn't like the bitter glare she was giving me. I looked over at the real Lissa, and found her looking at a loss for words. What on earth had her so worked up?

"Emily..." I said slowly, trying to think of the right way to phrase my request. "We have something we need to talk to you about, and it's going to take alot of explaining, so we're going to need you to just...cooperate and listen, okay?" She looked surprisingly annoyed.

"And why should I take orders from you? You may rule the school, or whatever, but you have no control over me whatsoever, especially not in my own house. You push me around at school, and then have the nerve to show up uninvited?" She glanced over at my body...at Lissa for the first time. "Max is always welcome, but you have no business here." I hated how cold she was being with me. I wasn't used to the idea that 'I' (note quotations) had been a bitch to all these people. Suddenly, Lissa spoke.

"Emily, please. We really need your help with something. Ma--She's right. We need you to listen, and...preferably try not to think we've completely lost our minds." Emily stared at Lissa as she stated her odd request, looking utterly confused. After a minute or so, she finally nodded and pulled the door open. Her room had all white walls, but it was very dark because the windows had been covered by thick, black drapes. Posters of slightly creepy looking bands hung on the walls, along with many tacked up drawings. A small desk in one corner housed a shotty-looking computer, and an entire bookcase occupied the corner opposite, bursting full of books of all different sizes and colors.

It kind of reminded me of Fang's room, to tell you the truth, except Emily's was cleaner and more...feminine looking. I wasn't used to seeing her without thick eyeliner decorating her crystal blue eyes, but there she stood. Totally makeupless, dressed a simple black t-shirt, and purple, plaid sweatpants. She sat down lightly on the edge of her bed, and stared up at us with waiting eyes. I watched as Lissa fidgeted uncomfortably with the hem of her shirt, twisting and tugging at it. Looking anywhere but at Emily. An awkward silence filled the air, and we all just sat there, waiting for someone to speak up. I sighed. Emily wasn't the type to strike up conversations, and Lissa looked like the only thing she would be able to do if she opened her mouth would be vomit all over the clean, white carpet. Looks like that left me.

"Ummm...listen." I began, trying to think of a way to phrase this so that she didn't think we were smoking something. "Well...it's kinda complicated, and...weird, to say the least. We um...we sorta...--"

"We switched bodies." Lissa said suddenly. My eyes snapped to where she was leaning heavily against the door, as though prepared to dart out of the room if something unpleasant came up. She glanced back and forth between me standing, shocked by her sudden outburst, and Emily, sitting on the bed with hardly any expression on her pale face. The simple statement seemed to float in the air, flashing in front of my face. I switched my gaze back to Emily's. She seemed to be thinking. I kept waiting for her to burst out laughing at our ridiculus statement, or to kick us out of the house, or something. But she didn't even seem to register that the two people standing before her just claimed to have been the victims of a supernatural situation of some sort.

Suddenly, she was on her feet, moving towards her vast bookshelf, beginning to scan it's contents for something. I exchanged a confused glance with Lissa as Emily pulled out a thick, dark red book with a torn binding. It looked like the kind of book you'd see in a movie based in 17th century England or something. She set the heavy looking book down on the bed, and began flipping through the pages delicately, so as not to tear the thin sheets. I watched with confusion as she scanned each page, never seeming to find what she was looking for. "I know it's in here somewhere..." she mumbled to herself, flipping the page. I tried to peer over her shoulder, but she was turning pages too fast for me to make anything out.

"Ummm...what exactly are you looking for?" I asked, giving up my attempts at speed-reading and sitting down at the desk positioned in the corner. Emily didn't pay me the slightest attention, she just paused to carefully read something before resuming her rapid page flipping. I waited, but she seemed determined to act as though I wasn't in the room. I knew she was only doing it because I looked like Lissa, but I still felt the anger swell inside me. I walked over to Lissa and whispered, "Ask her what she's looking for. She won't talk to me." Lissa just shook her head frantically. "Come on. What's wrong with you? You look like you're about to run screaming out of the room at any moment." I was still waiting for a response from Lissa when Emily spoke up.

"Haha! I knew it was in here. I knew I read something about this somewhere." She picked the book up and walked over to the two of us, studying us closely. "Enemy's Eyes." I stared in confusion.

"Um, what?" I asked, not sure if she was even talking to us at all.

"Enemy's Eyes." she repeated. "There's an old Japanese saying that we only fear what we do not understand. And..." she went on, adjusting the book so that we could both see the page. "An ancient Japanese curse called 'Enemy's Eyes'." At the top of the well worn page she had shoved upon us, were the words **Enemy's Eyes **in bold, curly letters. "It is said, in ancient ledgend, that there were two young women who lived in the same castle. One was the daughter of the castle master, and the other was a humble chamber-maid. And the two girls fought like cats and dogs, each one thinking that the other was the source of their hostility. One day, a traveler woman came to take shelter in the castle, and saw how awful the two treated eachother because of their differences. So...she placed a curse on them that switched their souls into the other's body, and allowed them to see...through their Enemy's Eyes."

When she had finished her story, we simply sat in silence, staring at the faded page in front of us. Then I glanced up at Emily. "You actually believe us?" I asked skeptically. She was still for a moment.

"Your eyes." was all she said.

"What?" I asked, not understanding the random reply. She laughed a little bit, almost humorlessly.

"Your eyes are a different color. Max's are usually brown, and Lissa's are usually green, but it's opposite. That's one of the 'side effects' of the curse." Suddenly, Lissa spoke.

"Okay...hold on a second. You're telling me, that some freako Japanese curse just randomly happened to us? Two girls in middleschool? Out of all the enemies in the entire freaking world, this curse thing just happened to pick two random 8th graders in a small town in Virginia?" Emily rolled her eyes.

"Well, obviously someone had to actually put the curse on you. Curses don't just suddenly decide to happen upon people. They have to be controlled by someone. Someone educated in dark magic, or whatever." Suddenly, it popped into my head. The reason why we had switched bodies in the first place.

"That woman." I said. Both Emily and Lissa stopped their little conversation to stare at me. "That weird Japanese lady that came to our school. She saw us fight that day. It must have been her who put the curse on us." I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. Why hadn't I thought of this sooner? Spiritual Japanese woman...switching bodies...It all sounded like some sort of cliche movie. How can I only be stupid when I can't afford to be? Emily jumped up, seeming almost excited.

"Oh my God! It fits perfectly! She saw you fighting, and thought 'what better opportunity than this to teach these girls a lesson'! Oh, it's so simple and obvious!" She was practically squealing with delight. Obviously she was pretty bored. I mean...the girl was excited about finding out that a strange oriental woman had placed a curse on two people that go to her school.

"Okay, great. We know who did it. How do you reverse it?" Lissa asked impatiently.

"Well, that's going to be the hard part." Emily said tentaviely. I rose my eyebrows. "You see...the curse will not be lifted until the two enemies come to terms with eachother." My eyes grew wide.

"You mean, like...get along?!" I asked incredulously. Emily smiled encouragingly. "Okay, I'm sorry. But I don't think we'll be skipping down the halls with linked arms anytime soon." I said, trying to keep myself from freaking out.

"You don't have to be....best friends, or anything like that. You just have to...not be enemies is all." I groaned. Was this day just getting worse, or what? No, seriously...I was literally **waiting **for a rain cloud to pop up over my head and start raining on me individually. Like...I was on the verge of grabbing Lissa's umbrella just in case. Lissa looked irritated with the news, too.

"Umm...I really don't even think we can manage that." she said pointedly. "Isn't there some other way? Could we...find this chick and blackmail her into reversing this stupid thing."

"Number one, we don't have any blackmail on her. Number two--" Emily started, only to be interrupted by Lissa.

"So, we'll make something up. Tell her...we know what she did last summer, or something."

"Number two," Emily continued, unaffected, "no, the curse doesn't work like that. You play by the rules, or you get disqualified. AKA: You get stuck like this forever because you won't just do what is prescribed to reverse it in the first place."

"Not if the ref thinks you have pictures of her robbing a church, or cheating on her husband, or whatever it is strange Japanese women do over the summer that gets them blackmailed." Lissa said.

"Okay," I interrupted their battle of wits. "Dropping the metaphore. So, basically, we just have to...not want to rip eachother's heads off when we look at eachother, and everything's peachy?" Emily bit her lip nervously.

"Well...there is just one_ tiny _detail, that _might _affect the situation." I frowned and glared a Emily, knowing what was about to come out of her mouth might make me want to throw something against the wall. I carefully stepped away from the vase of flowers sitting on her bedside table.

"And what might that_ tiny_ detail be?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Well...you have until midnight tomorrow to reverse this thing." she said, looking down at her feet, her cheeks heating up. I gulped.

"And if we don't?" I asked quietly, dreading the answer.

"Well...you'd be kinda...stuck like this." Emily mumbled. "Forever..."

* * *

A/N: Dun Dun Duh! Sorry, I know it took me awhile to update, and the chapter is kinda short, but....usual pathetic excuses apply here. Yeah...I kinda got the idea for this story from a combination of Freaky Friday and The Hot Chick. This is really getting interesting, now. And when I get interested in a story, I start to update more often, so get ready!

Me: You know what else helps me update faster?  
You: Chocolate chip pancakes?  
Me: No. Well...yeah, that too, but I was thinking more along the lines of something that starts with an R.  
You: Racial descrimination?  
Me: What the hell?! No! Here's another clue....it ends with a W.  
You: Rainbow?  
Me: Ugh! No! Review! Frickin' review! Rainbow?...what the hell?

**In Random News: **

After all the earthquakes in Haiti, I have reached this conclusion: We should all adopt Haitians. Yeah...just...getting a little Haitian child. You could...dress it in little...tribal outfits. And...make corn-husk dolls with it. And you could...feed it little Haitian...stuff. Whatever it is you do when you find a Haitian on your doorstep in a little basket with a blue blanket and a note saying that it's little Haitian stomache needs food. And then you get annoyed with it, and lock it in a closet, because you can't understand a freaking word it's saying! Not that...it's ever happened to me or anything. Haha...  
Little voice in background: Help me!  
Me: Shut up!!!!!!!


	6. Valid Reasons

A/N: Oh my toaster strudel! How effing long has it been since I've updated? Holy shit, I don't even know! Lot going on right now, guys. Please go easy on me. I suppose I should probably just write the damn chapter now before you all kill me or something.

Notelet: In my last chapter, I used a verse from the song Note to Self by From First to Last. Just in case anybody...I don't know...cared or anything. It's a good song. :D And...most of the characters in this story (the one's I make up) are based on real people. Like...my friends. This makes for good character development shit. Yay!

* * *

**Chapter 6: I'd Gladly Hang Out With You...If it Meant I'd Never Have to See You Again **

**Lissa's POV **

"Wait?! What?" I gasped, nearly tripping over the desk chair as I backed up. I could've sworn I'd just heard Emily say that we could be stuck like this forever. But...that couldn't be right.

"You'll be trapped in eachother's bodies if you don't reverse this by tomorrow at midnight. I know it's not exactly the greatest of circumstances, but...I didn't write the curse, so...." I listened as Emily repeated what I had been afraid she'd said in the first place. Listened as those dreadful words came out of her mouth. Listened as all hope was drained from the room. My head started to spin. I could see Max across from me, in my body. My body. I could see her run her fingers desperately through my hair. My hair. And I could see my mouth move as she spoke something I didn't hear. Something that came from my mouth. My mouth. And I could feel my hands beginning to shake.

Max and Emily seemed to be arguing about something, but it was like the whole world had been put on mute. I looked down at the unfamiliar hands that belonged to me now. They were calloused and scarred; blistered and bruised. So unlike my own, slim, unmarked ones. And I felt the dirty blonde hair that rested on these foreign shoulders, and I felt like crying. It wasn't so much the fact that everything about my body was different, but rather that everything else around me would change, too. My friends, my family, my freaking eating habits. It was all crumbling around me. Disintegrating as we wasted time in this dreary room. Everything I had built up for myself would all fall and crash to the floor like a tower of unbalanced building blocks.

And suddenly, I was angry. Angry at everything. At Max for being so freaking different, at my mom for making me the way that I was, at the Japanese lady for doing this to me, and even the world for being so damn unfair! I felt like screaming and running, and hitting people. Tears welled up in my eyes and slid down the freckle-free skin on my face. Max's face. Or my face. Oh! Which was it?! I was so confused! So damn confused! And then my feet were moving, and I was sliding out of the room, and running down the stairs. Out the front door and onto the street, and I was running. Just running. One foot in front of the other. One labored breath after another.

I didn't know where I was going, but then again...I didn't know much of anything right about now. Just that I needed to leave, and get out, get away. As quickly as possible. And all the time I ran, I didn't look back once. I ran until my lungs were aching and my legs had turned to lead. I ran until my knees were sinking down towards the cool cement. I felt the skin tear across my shins, but I felt no pain. I felt my arms shredding against the gravelly surface, but I couldn't feel the burn I should have. And I felt my wet cheeks against the soggy cement. And I lay there.

I don't know where there was. I hadn't been paying attention to where I was at. Just to the race of my pulse and the jolt that tore through my spine as my feet hit the ground. I could see black now. And white. White in a line. And maybe another one a little ways away. A word ran through my head. Parking lot. I was in a parking lot. Parking lot means cars. Cars mean accidents. Accidents means blood and ambulances and sterile, white sheets. But I lay there. My mind completely off track now.

White sheets, sharp needles, plastic smiles, freezing hands, dancing shadows....empty room.

And suddenly I was back at the parking lot. I was laying face down in the middle of a parking lot. The black and the white had long since blended together, and now all I could see was black. Tired of having my eyes open just to see nothing, I clamped them shut. My pounding head, and my pounding heart. That was all there was right now. I was happy just to block everything out. I was happy just to lay there, nothing in the world to worry me. 'Cause...laying face down in an empty parking lot...you didn't have a care. You just had the feel of cement, and the smell of rain, and the sound of your breath. I was happy just to lay there, but miserable to lay alone.

* * *

Seconds into minutes into hours. Seven-thousand-two-hundred seconds into one-hundred and twenty minutes into two hours. That's how long I lay there in the parking lot. Tow soggy, happy, miserable, alone minutes. And I would have kept lying there if not for the pair of feet standing in front of me now. Bare feet, purple polish. The feet sank down to the ground, and now they were knees. Soon they were a waist, and then a torso. Now they were a face. My face. The face was concerned, and it's mouth moved, but the world was still on mute.

"Lissa? Lissa?! Can you hear me?! Are you okay?!" she asked me frantically, rolling me onto my back so that I saw the blistered sky. "Lissa, are you okay?!" At this I rolled my eyes, and finally got my vocal cords proper working order.

"Of course I'm not okay. You find me laying in the middle of a parking lot, and you ask if I'm okay?" I pulled myself up into a sitting position, my biting sarcasm quickly forming on my tongue as I regained my composure. "Sure took you long enough to find me." I looked around over her shoulder, trying to see if she had been accompanied by anyone. We were the only living things in the lot.

"Well, you took off kind of fast, in case you didn't know. How was I supposed to guess that you'd wind up in a parking lot four miles from Emily's house." said Max with a defensive tone settling in her voice. She stood up without offering me a hand and waited for me to climb to my feet. As I did so, I realized something.

"Four miles? You mean...I ran four miles?" I asked incredulously. The most I had ever run at one time was probably...well maybe one. And only because it was required for P.E. Other than that...it was really hard to run while wearing cute shoes. Max nodded to answer my question. Suddenly, a vague look of concern flashed in her eyes.

"Lissa, we should probably get you cleaned up." I stared at her, confused. Cleaned up? What was she talking about. "Your arms..." She gestured with her hand to my limp arms. All along my forearm was a strip of reddish-purple skin, a nasty maroon color seeming to have pooled around the edges. Hundreds of tiny, black grains of rubble speckled the sensitive skin. My knees were no better. Two mangled, bloody splotches had replaced the bony knee caps. A film of the rubble covered them as well. I sighed. More scars to add to my already vast collection.

"What time is it?" I asked, trying to clean myself up a little bit. The burn that should have been there long ago seemed to be creeping up and settling in.

"It's about one o' clock, and don't fool with those. They'll get infected." She ordered, moving to swat my hands away from the ruined flesch. I backed up bitterly.

"Sorry, Mom." I nearly spat the words at her, and her face grew sour at my snappy attitude. "We can go back to my place. It'll be empty, 'cause my mom doesn't back from work for at least another couple hours." Her job actually ended at three thirty, but I knew she would go out until at least six. To a bar, or downtown, or just out with a guy. It varied from day to day. Max seemed to consider my suggestion for a moment, before deciding that it was probably the best plan. Then she smacked her forehead.

"Oh! Shit!" she yelled suddenly. What? Was she schizophrenic now, or something, too? "Anne doesn't know where I am! What time did you leave the house, again? Oh, I've been gone for hours! She's probably chewed her fingernails off with worry! Crap!" I listened as she stressed out, completely freaked with the situation. "And Angel, and Fang! Crap, crap, crap!" I rolled my eyes.

"Chill, Max. I left a note." I said, recalling the scribbled explanation for her dissappearance. Max didn't look the least bit relieved.

"What?! What did the note say?!" she asked frantically. I thought, trying to remember back to the early hour when I had written it. It felt like a century ago that I had put the pencil to the paper and scrawled across it. Even though it had only been a few hours ago.

"I don't know...Umm...something about having to get out for a little while. I told them you'd be back soon." Now that I phrased it out loud, it really did seem like kind of a pathetic thing to say before dissappearing. Max groaned and put her fists up to her eyes, sqeezing them shut with frustration. The burning was beginning to become a bit of a problem. "Can we please get going already? My shredded skin needs medical attention." Max snorted as I voiced my complaint.

"Oh quit whining. I broke my arm this morning, I think you can handle a couple of scratches." I glared at her. Why did she have to always be so self-righteous? It's not like she'd never made a mistake before. So...she's allowed to freak about not telling her **poor little **foster mommy where she was going, and I can't even ask if I can go home and get a band-aid because I had ripped the skin from my arms?

"Oh, shut up." I said, bitingly. "Let's just go. I'm hungry, anyways." In fact, I was starving. I could feel my stomach growling as we stood here. Without another word, we took off towards my house, knowing we had a long walk ahead of us. The tension was still thick in the air.

"So..." Max said after about half an hour of silence. "Where does your mom work, anyways?" Hmmmm...getting personal, now are we?

"She works the early shift at a hospital downtown. I think she...handles files and answers phones, and stuff. Then she works from eight until two at a club. The club's downtown somewhere, too, I think." I saw Max raise her eyebrows.

"Whoa...you don't get to see her really any more than...three hours, probably, a day." Her voice held a hint of shock. Or perhaps mockery. You could never tell with Max.

"Anne works basically at home off of her computer. But...she goes most nights to volunteer at a soup-kitchen downtown. But, she's usually back in time for a late dinner." What the hell was this?! The effing sixties? Was her foster dad Mr. Rogers? I grew irritated with her I'm-little-miss-perfect routine, and clamped my mouth shut bitterly. Why bother talking to someone who just laughs at your lifestyle. It's not my fault we were almost flat broke, and my mom has to work all day just to pay the rent. We can't all have moms like Betty freaking Crocker. The rest of the walk consisted solely of silence, and bitter glares.

* * *

When we finally got home, I rushed inside, eager to grab some bandages and something to eat. Trying to ignore the steady burning in my arms and knees, I dove into the kitchen and dug some leftover Chinese food out of the fridge. By the time Max trailed into the kitchen, I had already dished it out onto a plate and was poised with a fork to dig in. And then I realized what I was about to eat. Chinese food. **Chinese **food. I have had enough to do with anything Chinese to last me a life time. So what if that lady had been Asian, or Japanese, or whatever! Chinese was close enough, and I wanted nothing to do with it. I am now officially boycotting anything Chinese, Japanese, or Asian related! I chucked the Mu Shoo pork and rice in the garbage, and went to grab the frozen pepperoni pizza I had spotted in the freezer when digging around. Italian food was better anyways.

"Oh no you don't!" Max crowed, planting herself firmly in between me and the freezer door. "You were the one whining about your so called mangled limbs, so you get in that bathroom and clean those cuts off, or you're going to get an infection." I stared at her in amazed annoyance.

"Who died and put you in charge of the First Aid police?" I snapped, my stomach growling loudly. Max glared in a way I thought only mothers could achieve and pointed an ordering finger in the direction of the downstairs bathroom.

"Bathroom. Now. The last thing I want is to have to take you to the doctor because your arm has turned blue and crusted over, and have them find a pair of wings on your back." She crossed her arms and remained stationary, blocking any chance I had of getting to the pizza. I slowly walked over to the bathroom and dug around in the first aid kit my mother had bought a century ago when she still gave a shit whether or not I had a serious injury. Then I realized I had no idea whatsoever as to what to do in the field of first aid. So many things....Ummm...

I peeked out of the door. Max had busied herself by putting the pizza in for me and grabbing two cans of coke from the fridge. I wondered if she knew anything about first aid. Probably not. After all, though she is some weird breed of abnormal, mutant teenage girl, she was still just a teenager. And either way, there was no way I was asking her for help any time soon. So I crept back to that infamous kit and dumped it's contents on the floor. Okay...if I just had all the skin on my arms torn off...I'd probably need this cream. I selected a slender white tube labeled hydrocortizone. Hmm...sounds promising.

I squeezed a small amount of the white cream onto my fingertips and started to rub it onto the splotchy, cut up areas. "Ouch!" I cried in agony. It felt like I was ripping layers of my skin off. "What the hell is this?!" I threw the tube onto the floor and grabbed a clump of tissues, trying to dab it off of my arm, but only managing to inflict further pain on myself. "Holy crap!" I was hopping around the bathroom, in desperate need of something that didn't make it feel like I was shaving flesch off of my arms. And suddenly Max was at the door.

"Lissa? What are you doing in here?" She caught sight of the layer of white I had covered my arm in. "What did you put on that?" she asked, picking the abandoned tube up off the tiled floor. "Hyrdrocortizone? That's for rashes and bug bites, dummy!" She quickly grabbed my arm and shoved it under the faucet, flicking it on so that it was doused in cold water. At first the burning was worse and I tried to wrench my arm away. But Max held it there, and soon the pain subsided and it felt almost soothing. I watched as chips of dark red and spots of black swirled out of sight as the drain sucked them in. When she was finally satisified that they were clean, she turned the faucet off and told me to sit on the toilet. I decided to listen to her just this once. Maybe just because my arm hurt, and she seemed to know what she was doing. Or maybe because she was making me pizza.

Once I was seated, she proceeded to grab a bottle of clear liquid from the kit and a couple of tissues. "This is going to hurt. Alot." she seemed to blurt. And suddenly she had shoved a liquid soaked tissue onto my skin and lightly began to scrub. I bit my lip so that she didn't see how much it hurt. After she had scrubbed every available inch of the skinned area, she grabbed some gauze and wrapped a decent amount of layers around both arms, and slapped some huge-ass band-aids on my knees. By the time she was finished, I felt like some sort of mummy, but at least the stinging was gone. "And that...is how you do it." Max said, satisfied with her work.

"Yeah, yeah...you can put some bandages on some skinned knees. We should all nominate you for an award." I grumbled sarcastically as I limped out of the room towards the wafting scent of pepperoni. I flipped the little switch on the oven and watched the cheese bubble as the pizza baked. I heard Max cleaning up in the bathroom, but just barely over the agitated growl of my stomach. I cracked the Coke open and quickly chugged the whole can. Then I grabbed a stack of Pringles and slouched into a chair, crunching hungrily while I waited for the stupid pizza to finish cooking.

* * *

Max leaned against the counter, just drinking her soda and staring off into the distance like she was thinking. Another ten minutes of solid silence and soda chugging passed without a sound. When the oven buzzer finally went off, I jumped up eagerly and dashed to the oven door, throwing it open and almost grabbing it without oven mitts. Max came over a bit more prepared, and pulled the bubbling disc of cheese and pepperoni out, setting it carefully on the counter. She hardly had time to cut the thing before I had grabbed three slices and shoved one hungrily in my mouth. I had never allowed myself to eat like this. It was always that I had to plan carefully, and never too many carbs, never too many calories. And most defintely never too much fat. But today...it was like I didn't care. I had too much other stuff to worry about besides what I put in my stomach. I was hungry...so I planned to eat until I was full. I kinda liked this feeling.

Max had two slices for herself and took a seat at the other end of the table. I thought the pizza frenzy would be accompanied by silence as well, but I guess not. "So...do you think we could...I don't know. Attempt this whole...getting along thing?" she asked tentatively, burrying the rest of her words in a bite of pizza. I stalled for a minute by taking another bite myself and downing another couple gulps of coke.

"I don't know. I guess...we could probably figure something out. I mean...I would gladly hang out with you if it meant I never had to see you again." I smirked and shrugged, tossing yet another empty can into the trash, and running past Max to grab another slice. When I had retrieved it, I grabbed my chair and pulled it right up next to hers, plopping down and leaning forward, giving her a nice, fake smile. "See...I could handle a day or two of this if I didn't ever have to speak with you again." Grinning broadly, I patted her shoulder in a sort of mock friendly way. Max rolled her eyes in annoyance. Then she sniffed the air lightly and wrinkled her nose.

"Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?" she snickered. At this I gave a snort of laughter, spraying coke across the kitchen table. Max started to crack up as I put my hand to my mouth in embarrassment. I placed a hard hand to her shoulder and shoved her out of her chair. She tumbled to the floor, taking her slice of pizza with her. It splatted onto her face and left a greasy splotch as it slid to floor. And then I started to laugh, because she didn't stop and she looked so funny decorated in pizza toppings. And then I fell out of my chair, and we were both just cracking up on the floor like a bunch of pathetic teenage girls. It must have gone on for a good couple minutes. But suddenly, we heard the front door bang open, and all laughter ceased. My eyes jumped to the clock in shock. Only two forty-five.

Shrill female laughter rang from the entrance room, shadowed by the deep boom of a man's. "Brian!" the female voice shrieked. It was my mother. I hadn't expected her to be home for another couple of hours, but yet, here she was with whoever Brian was. More shrill laughter and some stumbling footsteps, and soon I saw a tall, dark-haired man filling up the entrance to the kitchen. He had my mother slung over his shoulder, easily able to lift her skinny 96 pound form. He stared down at the two of us in shock, but his expression was glassy, and my mother's laugh was a bit off and rambunctious. I picked myself up from the floor, forgetting that I was still in Max's body, and began to talk.

"Hmm...a bit early to be getting trashed, don't you think, Mom?" I said bitterly. "Even for you." The man named Brian stayed stock-still and wide eyed. I glared in his direction as my mother's laughter stopped. She clawed her way up his back and pulled herself over so that she was twisting to face me, but still balanced in his arms.

"And wh--who are...are youuuuuu?" she slurred, drawing out the word 'you' in an annoying way. That's when I remembered that I was Max right now, and shrank back. I watched as my mom turned to Max, looking angry. "Lis? Lis, who is she?" Max stood silent for a minute, but managed to catch on and respond without much delay.

"Umm...this is Max, Mom. She's a...friend of mine. From school." A simple, non-thought-provoking answer. Leave it to Max to be a quick thinker. "We're...uhh...working on a school project, so we're gonna be outta the house most of the day just...at the library and stuff like that." My mom didn't seem to be able to comprehend the long sentences, and squinted at Max as she struggled to understand. Finally, she seemed to give up and went on to introducing her burly friend.

"This is Brian. I'm--We...We're, uh--Go--going upstairs. Upstairs." And with that she slumped back down over his shoulder. Brian nodded some sort of brief hello and then stumbled back out of kitchen. I rolled my eyes as I heard the pair of them thunk up the stairs noisily. It made me angry how pathetic my mother could be sometimes. I couldn't believe she had left work early to go pick up some guy to get smashed with, and then bring him back to the house. She was behind on the rent as it is. And knowing her, she'd end up missing her job at the club tonight, too. I considered calling them for a minute to let them know she wouldn't make it. But then I thought_..."You know what...that's her own fault. Let her deal with the consequences. Maybe it'll teach her a lesson_." But I knew it never would. She'd never learn. And that was what made me angry most of all. The fact that no matter how many times she screwed up. No matter how many second chances she was given. She'd always end up digging herself a deeper hole to jump into.

I walked almost robotically to the door, slipped on the most convienient pair of shoes I could find (these being flip flops), threw on a jacket, and retreated out the door. I was walking quickly, throwing each leg out in front of me, as I tried to get away from my stupid house as fast as possible. But suddenly, I felt a hand on my elbow, trying to pull me back. I yanked away from the touch.

"Lissa!" It was Max, almost running to keep up with my quick pace as I stalked off futher down the sidewalk in which ever direction. "Lissa, wait!" But I didn't feel like waiting anymore. I wanted to get out. "Lissa, come on! You're behaving like a child! You can't just run away from your problems!" As these words exited her mouth, I became suddenly furious, rounding on her. She didn't flinch as I whipped around to face her, but I could feel a slight hint of caution in her actions now.

"What?! You think** I'm** behaving like a child?! What about her? Just ditching the only source of money we have right now to go get wasted with some stupid man-whore?! And then bringing him home?! What kind of freaking mother does that?! What kind of mother brings a strange man back to the house where she knows her freaking fourteen year old daughter is waiting?! That sounds like some sort of white-trash, slut teenager, not a mom with a child!" I could feel it now. A rant coming out, and seeping out of every pore of my being.

"And here I am, fending almost entirely for myself! Getting my own food, and making sure we pay the bills on time! Making sure we always have milk in the fridge, and the dishes get cleaned, and every other frickin' thing a mother should be doing. Now you hear that! And now you tell me...who's the child now?!" And angry tears were streaming down my cheeks, but I was wiping them away furiously, and almost as fast as they slid down my face. Max just stood there the whole time. She just stood there, cool as a cucumber as I screamed out whatever came to mind. I panted, out of breath from my outburst.

"Finished?" she asked calmly after a minute of intense silence. I nodded shakily a few times, just trying to re-collect my jumbled thoughts.

"Yeah." I finally said. "I'm finished." She nodded, still apparently completely at ease with the situation.

"Hey, you know what? It might be easier just to work at my place, anyways. There may be alot more people there, but I doubt anyone will really bother us." she suggested. I thought for a minute, but eventually agreed. Anything to get me away from this house. So I didn't have to listen to the thunks and the shrill shrieks. Smell the whiskey, and the smoke, and the drugs. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. "I have to get back soon. Anne's probably already filed a missing persons report, knowing her." Max continued. "I hate to admit it, Lissa, but I think you're going to have to give a **major **explanation when we get there."

I groaned as we set off in the direction of her house. I was tired of giving explanations today. "So..." Max went on. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, knowing she was about to give me some huge lecture on what to say. Like I was some sort of special-ed who had to be told how to not act stupid. "So there's Anne. You'll know who she is. She'll be the one yelling at you angrily. And then there's Fang, who you obviously know. And Iggy. He's blind, but don't look for some guy walking around with his arms stuck out in front of him, and running into walls. Because he can get around pretty well. He will, however, sometimes act like a retard, so you might look out for that. And Angel's the little blonde one--" I sighed as she went on.

Really...it was just an explanation. All I had to say was something like "I'm sorry. I had...a--a mental breakdown and I needed to get out." No...that would make it sound like I needed mental care. And although it would be rather entertaining to get Max put into a mental facility, that would REALLY not help our situation at the moment. How about..."A friend called. It was urgent, so I rushed over there to help out. Sorry I didn't have time to write a better note." I could use Max's broken arm as the emergency. See...I didn't need to be told what to say. But of course, Max was just as stubborn as always and continued to rant on about her little foster family. But I didn't say a word. I felt that I owed her something in an odd sort of way. For listening to my rant back there. But...maybe also a little bit because she made me pizza. Haha.

* * *

A/N: Okay...it has been FAR too long since I last updated, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm going to try to get at least one update a week now, so hold on and I promise you more will be soon to come. Thanks for sticking with me guys, and I really appreciate any feed back I can get. Good or bad, just review. I know alot of you are silent readers, but I ask you...just review once. So I know what you think. Tell me anything you think I can improve on. (And don't say...update more, 'cause I'm working on that. Tehe!) Tell me anything you really liked. Anything you want to see more or less of in the future. Tell me what you wanna see happen next. Character's you wanna see intergrated (sp?) into the story. I'm just trying to please my readers. And thanks to all the lovely readers who have been reviewing from the start. I have some reviewers who have been reviewing for me since the very first story I ever wrote. And that was almost a year ago. Luv ya guys!

xoxoxo,

MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear :D ^.^ 0_o ;P


	7. Life's Lessons

**A/N: **Lalalalalalalalalalalalala! I'm a skittles junkie! *Random guitar strumming that shouldn't even be classified as music* And I have a guitar! Lalalalalalalalalalalalala!

LOL. Aren't you glad I write fanfic instead of songs? Me and my friend watched Napolean Dynamite last night at three in the morning! Yay! Did you know...everything is funnier when you're sleep deprived? I don't know why, but it just is. And we had tater tots at school today! Classic! We just looked at eachother and burst out laughing. "Gimme your tots man!" God I luv that movie.

Also! The Olympics started tonight! And they're in Canada! You know...I like the whole Olympics thing, but you wanna know the one thing I'm really excited for? Shaun White and his ginger fro! LOL, I'm obsessed with his hair. That kid rocks! *Sigh* There are few people who can pull off a white-boy fro. I deeply respect those who can. So... Current list of people who can pull off a white-boy fro: Ray Toro, Shaun White. Hmmmm...Jesus could probably do it... David from Panima? Not so much...poor boy. I'm going to attack him in his sleep with my straightening iron and then chop it all off, 'cause it looks like Joe Jonas is his stylist, and he deserves better than a hairstyle that looks like a spoof of the 70's. Just type in David from Panima in Google images or whatever image search you use to see what I mean.

Yeah...guess which one I'm talking about. What's wrong with this picture? IDK...maybe the giant puffball nesting ontop of his head!!!!!!!!Okay...venting session is officially over.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Life's Lessons From 500 Feet Off the Floor **

**Max's POV **

"Okay...let's run through it once more. What are the names of all the members of the flock, and how do you know which one is which?" I watched as Lissa rolled her eyes, exasperated by my insistance that she properly knew the names of the flock. I'm pretty sure they would begin to doubt that Max was still Max if she suddenly happened to forget all of their names. I didn't see why she was getting so fed up with this. It was only, like, the sixth time I'd quizzed her.

"Fine...Angel's the little blonde one with the dog, Total. Iggy's the tall, blind one that likes fire. Gazzy's the little dude who also likes things of the explosive nature. Nudge is the one with the coffee colored skin, and Fang...well...you know how Fang is." She smirked a little bit as she described Fang, and I could feel my eyes narrow a little bit. There was no need for her to flaunt her obvious infatuation with my best friend right in front of my face. "There. Have I passed the quiz, Professor Max, or do you want me to take notes and then write a novel on your life?" She smiled cheesily and gave me a double thumbs up.

"If it helps you remember their names, then you go right ahead. And the first chapter can be on how the flock attempts to kill you because they think you're someone from the school in disguise because you accidentally called Angel Gazzy. So...you'd better get their names right." I told her matter-of-factly. She gave a long, tired sigh and trudged onward, making no attempt whatsoever to repress her annoyance.

Finally, we arrived back at Anne's house. The lights were on, but everything was peacefull. Hmmm....maybe they weren't too worried about me after all. Gee...that's comforting to know. I crept silently up to the door and tried the handle. For some miraculous reason, it was unlocked. Odd...Anne was an absolute freak when it came to things like locking doors at night and making sure all the windows were locked. Not that me or the flock were much different. We had a tendency to overdo things like security, as well. But trust me...if you had a team of technologically advanced scientists with trained hitmen following you, I'm pretty sure you'd at least take the time to make sure your doors were locked, if not buy yourself an elephant rifle and taser.

"Oh!" Lissa said suddenly when I found that I could turn the door handle without resistance. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to lock your door when I left. Oops. Hope that's not important." I didn't even bother to respond. I just gave her a pointed look, telling her to keep quiet as I poked my head into the house. The front hallway was deserted, as was the living room which I could see beyond. The house was abnormally quiet for a weekend. Usually if sounded like the sorts of sound effects you'd expect to hear in Starwars, but today...it was more like **Mute**wars. Haha. You see what I did there? I took Starwars, but since it was so quiet, I made--Okay, I'll just shut up now.

"Come on!" I hissed to Lissa, slipping through the doorway and beckoning for her to follow. She gave the room a quick, nervous sweep with her eyes and then darted to where I was currently crouched by the stairs. Tip, tip, tip, tip, tip. Oh! The annoying noise your feet made when you went up the stairs. I swear, a fly could land on one of these creaky old things and you'd think we were being bombed by fighter planes or something. Thankfully, we were almost to the top and up to my room where we could be remotely safe from the wrath of a worried mother. Just the last few steps to go.... Tip, tip, tip, tip--

"Max!" I stopped immediately where I was, and Lissa, so close behind me, smacked into me. Losing her balance, her feet slipped out and she tumbled down the stairs on her stomach, landing right at the feet of Angel. She gripped her sides in agony, and clenched her eyes shut, remaining on the floor. I gave her a frantic look, as though to remind her that Angel could read minds, but this had no effect since she wouldn't open her eyes. "Max..." said Angel again, and she looked at me, this time with so much sincerity and knowledge that I knew our cover had been blown. She opened her mouth to speak again, but I interrupted.

"Angel. Upstairs. Now." was all I said, motioning for her to come up with us. She looked down at Lissa, who was picking herself up off the floor, finally. The two of them joined me at the top, and we managed to make it into my room with no other encounters. I sat Angel down on my bed and looked down at her with all the authority I could muster at the moment. Lissa stood quietly behind me, rubbing her sore stomach. "Okay...how much do you know already?" I sighed, ready for an onslaut of facts about my horrendous day. All through the eyes of a six year old.

"Well...I kept hearing you think about where you were and all these different things, and when I tried to see your thoughts, it was like you were someone totally different. And then I heard all these unfamiliar thoughts coming from your room, and I got really scared. But then you said something about switching bodies and how you had to find someone named Lissa. And...then I was more confused than scared."

I listend patiently as she recounted her tale, frowning when she said it had scared her. I hated it when I worried the flock. It made me feel like I was doing something wrong.

"Max, it's not your fault." Angel said suddenly, reading my mind. I shook my head and motioned for her to continue the story. "So...I decided to wait until you came back, 'cause I guess...then you knew where you were. And then I heard something about a curse, and a chinese lady, and then everything just got too confusing, so I blocked it out." She frowned, remembering the chaos that must have run through her head.

"What about Anne? And the others?" I pressed. "What did they do when they saw that I wasn't here?"

"You owe me big time, Max. I told them you told me that you were going to go to the grocery store." My eyebrows shot up.

"Wait....you told them that I was going to the grocery store at six in the morning? And they believed you?" My skepticsm rang in every syllable. There was no way that I would ever do something like that. Unless we were out of Cocoa Puffs, or something. Gotta have my Cocoa Puffs. Angel blushed.

"Well...not exactly, no. They didn't believe me. So...they asked where you really went. And...I told them..." she leaned in closer to slightly whisper what exactly she had told them. "That you went out to get products for 'feminine issues'." I gasped out loud and pulled away in pure shock. Angel giggled a little bit, and Lissa totally burst out laughing. "Well, they certainly didn't ask any questions after that." said Angel proudly.

"Angel!" I exclaimed. Great...so...they thought I was having 'feminine issues', but at least they didn't think I was at the grocery store very early. Phew...that could have been a disaster. (Sarcasm! Sarcasm!) I finally managed to calm them both down so I could speak again. "Okay, okay...um...thanks, I guess...for covering, Angel." She smirked a little and I glared right back. "But...listen...we still need to figure this whole thing out, okay? We really need you to keep quiet about the fact that me and Lissa switched bodies, alright, kiddo?"

Angel looked real innocent and thoughtful. Then..."What's in it for me?" she burst out suddenly. My eyebrows rose yet again. What had gotten into this kid?! Suddenly, Lissa spoke from behind me, stepping up and planting herself right near Angel.

"Hmmm...I like a girl who knows what she wants." she said, grinning. I elbowed her in the side.

"Do not encourage this!" I hissed at her. Of course, she totally ignored this and continued.

"You like stuffed animals, right, kid?" she asked, surveying the room which was so filled with plush of all kinds.

"Well..duh." Angel gestured sassily towards the rows of stuffed bears, elephants, platypi...heck, I think we even had a stuffed Gene Simmons in there somewhere. Huh...we'll have to dig that one out again sometime...

"Well, listen...if you let me and Max figure this thing out without you telling anybody, I'm PRETTY sure I could hook you up with some new plush." Angel's eyes got wider; I'm sure, envisioning all the giant bears and giraffes she could think of.

"You mean...like...you'd take me to Build a Bear, or something?" she asked, still wide-eyed. Lissa just snorted, and smiled broadly.

"Kid...I would **BUY **you the Build a Bear if you kept this thing quiet." Angel smirked again, and without hesitation this time, proclaimed that she would behave and vowed to total secrecy of all matters that passed between us behind this door. I sighed at how willing my little Angel complied to things as long as something was in it for her. I don't care what adults say about bribing never working out in the long run. Well...sure seems to work okay for me.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

Click, click, click. I was perched on the edge of Max's small bed, listening as she clicked away on the keyboard of the laptop she had had Angel retrieve from somewhere down the hall. I peeled off the wrapper of yet another peanut butter chocolate chip granola bar and tossed it into the growing pile of them starting to form on the floor. Mmmmm....never had I been so aware that the combination of peanut butter and chocolate must have been created as food for the gods. Sweet lord, I felt like I could eat a million of these things and never be satisfied. The first couple had made me nervous. After every bite, I would look down, expecting to see that I had a potbelly from all the food I had eaten today. But soon, I began to realize that it wasn't happening, and now I didn't really care what I put in my mouth as long as it was food and it tasted good.

"Jeese, try not to eat all of our food, okay?" Max said, looking up from the computer screen as I unearthed a forgotten package of Skittles from under her bed. "We have enough grocery shopping to do without you going and making your poor stomach explode. I don't think I ate that much before." I frowned bitterly at her comments.

"Look...I haven't eaten anything but a couple of salads and some toast in the last three days. The most indulgent thing I had this week was a small bowl of Neapolitan. I'm hungry, let me eat." I snapped, tearing open the Skittles and sorting them by color out of habit before popping the pile of reds (my favorites) into my watering mouth.

"Why do girls do that?" Max asked suddenly, leaning out of her hunched position she had been in to type. I froze and raised my eyebrows at her, counting the yellows before mixing them with the greens like I always do. (I have a special method to eat Skittles.) "Starve themselves, I mean. It's so...unhealthy. Why is our society so...size zero?" I snorted.

"Huh...you should talk. Your skinny as a post. What are you? A size two? Size three at the most." I smushed my purples between my thumb and index finger, gesturing to my new, bony body. Max shook her head and began typing again.

"Yeah...but I eat whatever I want. So technically, it's not my fault. I don't care if you're skinny as a rail if you eat normally." I shook my head, knowing she would never get it, being naturally thin, herself. It must be nice. To never have to worry that if you eat that slice of pizza or that donut, will it make you fat? Never having to look in the mirror and think: "Oh god, nothing looks right." or "I defintely need to lose about ten pounds." I've always envied that confidence.

I suddenly felt like I couldn't contain the question that was burning in the back of my throat. "How are you so confident about everything you are, and everything you do?" I blurted suddenly. The typing came to an abrupt halt again, and her gaze flicked up to meet mine. There was a moment of....not really awkward, but more...expecting silence.

"I guess...I just figure...why spend all this time and stress worrying about all your imperfections, when you can just...look past them and see what's really important Like...brains over beauty, and being happy over a perfect body." The words spilled out of her mouth with such sureness, and such sincerity. The confidence singed my crawling skin, as I watched all the walls that had seemed so well constructed slither to floor, revealing what was behind them. A mindset that simply would not allow her to fuss over imperfections and flaws.

I felt the salty tears stain my cheeks yet again, not even bother to even make an attempt to stop the flow. I saw Max climb to her feet and cross the room, grabbing a box of tissues and offering it to me. I took one reluctantly but, couldn't seem to bring it up to my face to dry the tears. Max joined me in sitting on the bed, but carefully kept her distance.

"You shouldn't have to be ashamed of who you are or how you look. All the little quirks and flaws, and everything that we try so hard to be rid of... Well...all those things are what make us....us." There was a moment of complete silence, and suddenly I felt the warmth of her hand on my shoulder. It took some amount of control not to immediately flinch away from the touch I would normally find so unwelcome. Now...all it seemed to offer was comfort and reassurance. None of the biting rage or hostility that seemed ever present between us.

"And...well..." she began, but couldn't seem to phrase what she was trying to get across to me. "If you ever tell anyone I told you this, I will cheerfully dismemeber you. I think your...um lovely. Like...I've always kinda thought you were pretty." She mumbled most of the sentence, which made it hard to understand, but I think I was at least able to catch what she was trying to say. I was speechless for a moment before a soft thankyou slid off of my tongue and drifted to be heard in the open air. I was trying to think of something meaninful to say, when the door burst open. We both shot off in opposite directions, startled and not really wanting to be seen interacting publicly. I somehow ended up on the floor in shower of leftover Skittles, while Max managed to stay on the bed, but smack into the wall behind her.

"Hey, Max, have you seen my laptop?" It was Fang. He swept into the room far too dramatically to be real life, and stood like a statue in the doorway when he caught sight of what he presumed to be me sitting on the bed. "Ummm....Lissa?" Max was wide eyed, but seemed to be trying to remain calm. Fang finally tore his gaze away from her, and let his eyes rest on my awkward position on the ground.

"Max...I believe I am at liberty to ask...what the hell is going on?" He crossed his arms lightly over his chest and leaned slightly agains the doorway. "Last I heard, you were out shopping at five in the morning, and now you have Lissa over? Ummm...what are you A) smoking, B) plotting or C) getting paid?" I frowned at his choice of words. As though Max would have to be crazy to hang out with me. I glanced over to where she was sitting.

"School project." she answered, catching my eye. "We're both failing biology, so Mrs. Bradley gave us an extra credit project to bring our grades up." Fang looked puzzled.

"Okay, well...biology may not be Max's strong suit, but you've gotten A's in biology since the beginning of the year." He said pointedly. Max froze for a fraction of a second, but quickly recovered.

"Yeah, but then we started this whole unit about metabolic pathways, and now nothing makes sense anymore." I sighed, thankful that she could be such a quick thinker when she needed to be. Fang looked at least appeased enough to drop the subject.

"What are you wearing?" Fang asked suddenly, gesturing to my outfit. I forgot that wearing makeup and non-homeless looking clothes was unusual for Max. I shrugged, not really sure how to respond. "Oh...just...got bored and decided to experiment. You know me...restless as always." I mentally smacked myself for my pathetic response. Why must I be so tongue-tied around him? I'll tell you why. Well...he's gorgeous, and...his eyes...oh his eyes... I could feel myself slipping into a trance as I pictured the two, dark, glassy orbs that shone from under his fringe of dark hair.

"Anyways...have you seen my laptop?" he asked me again. I gestured in the direction of the laptop Angel had kleptoed, hoping that was his. He scooped it up and studied whatever it was Max had left up on the screen. I saw her face twist into an expression of anxiety, and became immediately worried. What had she left up? "Uh...why do have an article about ancient Japanese curses up?" Fang asked in confusion, turning the computer to show us a black-backgrounded site with neon blue writing entitling the page **The Art of Ancient Japanese Curses, Their Origins, and Their Reversals. **I bit my lip, knowing it was my turn to come up with a clever cover story.

"You two aren't going Satanist on me, are you?" he teased us. I decided that playing along with his joking would probably yield the best results.

"Haha...we're praying to the devil for help getting an A on this retarded project." I said in an ominous voice swaying my hands. Fang rolled his eyes and grabbed a stray green Skittle from the floor before beginning to exit the room with his laptop. Suddenly, he froze and spun on his heel to face me again. He crouched down so his face was level with mine, just staring me straight in the eye. I felt myself go red in the face as his eyes stayed locked with mine.

"What happened to your eyes?" he asked randomly. "They're...green." I licked my lips nervously.

"Contacts..." I lied quietly. "Always wanted to try them." My feeble excuse did not go unnoticed, but thankfully, Fang gave me no more than a puzzled look before straightening up again.

"Right...well...I suppose I should probably leave you two to pray to Satan or whatever. If you need any candles, or herbs to burn, please...feel free to ask." And with that, he left the room, sliding the door shut almost silently behind his retreating form. Many moments of silence followed his exit. Mostly from lack of anything to say, but also because of what had passed between us in the moments before Fang entered the room. It was almost as if we had...bonded. I hated to think that I could become attached to her in any way. But...wasn't that what we had to do to reverse the curse? Bond? I sighed. This was going to take alot of getting used to.

"Okay..." Max said after awhile. "Well...our source of information has been taken away, but from what I managed to gather from reading the section on the Enemy's Eyes thing...we basically need to form some sort of bond. And supposedly...that bond will be the 'metaphorical bridge our souls will cross to return to our bodies.'" She quoted from the article with perfect memory. Another moment of silence. "How do you bond?" she asked without warning. I shrugged and looked up at her on the bed again.

"How am I supposed to know." It came out sounding a bit more stuck up than I had meant it to, and I suddenly wondered if I did that alot more than I realized. I had a bad habit of speaking my mind without regaurding the consequences.

"Well...you have lots of girl friends. What do you do? Tell secrets...gossip?" I snorted at her assumption.

"Ummm...telling someone you had a crush on the nerdy kid in third grade does not make you spiritually connected with someone." I told her pointedly. "Just because I hang out with...Kayla, and Amber, and Jenny doesn't mean we're like...soul sisters or whatever." I looked down at my feet. "To tell you the truth...I haven't had any close friends since Emily." She paused as I let slip a fragment of my past.

"How well exactly do you know Emily?" she asked, squinting with curiosity. I sighed reluctantly.

"We were best friends until the summer after sixth grade. Then she started hanging out with this guy who worked at this coffee shop downtown. It was really weird. He was like...seventeen. I don't know what happened, but one day she was just...different. She started wearing dark colors and she got really...sad. I didn't know what to do."

I frowned recalling my long-time best friend's abrupt personality change. She had gone from simply spunky and light-hearted to...an empty shell filled up with rage and sorrow. It had never made sense to me. She never told me why she became so unhappy, but I guess we were long past the point of telling eachother secrets now. It had been almost two years. We were different people now. Her especially, but I suppose I've changed to in more ways than one.

"I guess...everything just went downhill from there." I finished my story quietly, almost hoping she'd drop the subject, but in some weird way just wanting to vent. Even to her. It was odd...she was...she was a good listener, I'd give her that. But I quickly suppressed my urge to spill my guts. The last thing I needed was to come off as needy to this girl, so independent and confident in herself as she was. I bit my tongue and glanced out of the window across the room. The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds a little, and everything looked warmer. I felt the unfamiliar wings on my back twitch with a sudden urge to stretch out across open skys and have their feathers rustled by a wild wind. An idea suddenly formed in my head.

"Teach me how to fly." I said. The silence was then shattered by Max's startled voice.

"What?!" she gasped, climbing off of the bed to stand.

"You heard me." A smile was forming on my face as I spoke. "Teach me how to fly. It can't be that hard. I mean...you must do it all the time." I, too, stood up and shuffled over to the window, looking out at the cloud speckled sky longinly. The sun was just starting to set, as it was almost 4:00 p.m.

"Lissa...I've been flying all my life, so of course it's easy for me. You on the other hand..." she trailed off, not finishing, but the message came out clear enough. I was just a klutzy human. No way I could ever be as good as her. No way I could manage something as complicated as flying, because I was just a normal, everyday, non-extraordinary person. Hardly able to keep up with even the most trivial demands of today's society. Hah! I would show her!

"I bet you I could do it. I know I could." I said, sounding almost trance-like. I pushed the window open suddenly. Max shot across the room and grabbed my wrist.

"Okay...regardless of whether you 'know you can do it' or not...you can't just go jumping out of windows." she said sternly, trying to pull me away and back to the bed. I pulled my wrist away, tired of her treating me like I was mentally unstable.

"And why not?" I asked, slightly irritated. Max snorted.

"Ummm...number one, you could die. Number two...someone could see you. Oh, yeah, and number three...YOU COULD DIE!" I smirked.

"Alright...then teach me." I said. She shook her head full force.

"No way. We have way more important things to be doing that taking lessons in the aerial field. The last thing I need right now is for you to die, or for someone else to break a bone." But my smirk on grew deeper and wider. More pronounced as she went on. My arms shot forward and shoved her somewhat forcefully onto the bed. She landed, shocked, with a thunk. I threw out the screen and stepped onto the sill. Max shrieked slightly, and jumped to her feet. "Lissa!" she hissed. I just giggled.

"Teach me." I taunted her, poising myself to jump if she didn't comply. She shook her head, but was looking extremely anxious. I knew it wouldn't be long until she cracked. "Teach me how to fly or I jump. Uneducated, and unprepared." I stepped a little further out, almost hanging off of the edge, and gripping the sides of the window in support.

"Lissa...do NOT play games with me." Max said, regaining some composure, and bossiness. It only added to the appeal of toying with her.

"I'm not playing games with you, Max. I'm dead serious." I inched forward a little more.

"Lissa, you're going to kill yourself, you know that, right?" Max said, anxiety warping her words, meant to be commanding and pointed.

"Then...teach me how not to kill myself." This was too much fun. But even I was a little nervous by now. Here I was, hanging out of a second story window, inches from possible death. I gulped, but discreetly, so as not to give away any trace of anxiousness.

"Oh for God's sake, fine! I'll teach you how to fly, okay?! Just get down from that damn window sill before you slip and break your neck!" I laughed at how much she seemed to sound like my mother. My mother back when she actually gave a shit about what happened to me. Back when she cared about more than her precious whiskey bottles, and crack, and getting laid by studs she met in bars. Back when she was an actual mother. But I refused to let those thoughts consume me.

I was going to learn to fly! Soar in the clouds, and be shown endless possibilities! Oh god, I could almost taste the open air on my tongue now! I was the happiest I had been in a long time. Who would have ever thought that I would be overwhelmed with such good feelings all by something my own ENEMY was going to do for me. The world is a messed up, twisted place, that is for sure.

* * *

We were in the woods now. The small ones behind Anne's house would provide enough cover for now. After all, the way Max seemed to take to this, I wouldn't get more than a couple feet off the ground. I waited impatiently, as she surveyed the area we were standing in, checking for so called safety issues. I knew she was stalling. I had promised her I would only fly until the sun set, and I guess she figured the longer she spent fiddling around on the ground, the less time I would be up in the air. And it was really pis-sing me off.

"No...there's to many low branches around here." Max said for, like, the third time in the last five minutes. "Those are so easy to get caught in." I groaned loudly, and stalked over to where she was standing.

"No....you said that about the last four or five places we looked. You're going to teach me here, or I'm going back to your house and jumping from the roof this time." I told her sternly, planting myself firmly in her path so that she was cornered between me and a large oak tree. She sighed one of those exasperated sighs she's always letting slip from her mouth in the most annoying way.

"Alright, alright. But don't blame me if you can't get a good take off. And you'll need a running start, of course." She gestured around at the small confines and I groaned. Max held up her hands. "Calm down. I suppose you could jump from something, instead. How about that branch up there?" She pointed to a distant branch on one of the nearby trees.

"Oh sure...I can't jump from a window, but now you're telling me to throw myself off of a tree?" I asked, walking over to stand under said tree, glancing up to find the branch again. It seemed impossibly far up. Much too far for me to simply reach up and pull myself up. "And how exactly am I supposed to get up to my branch?" I asked heatedly, wrapping my hands around the closest limb and tugging my legs up so that they were wrapped around it. I then swung my weight up so that I was lying on my stomach on the branch.

"Just keep doing what you're doing." Max replied calmly, sinking down to the forest floor, leaning her back against a tree. "You'll get there eventually." I groaned, but continued to pull myself up the trunk of the tree. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I soon reached the designated branch. Perched carefully, so that I had a two-handed grip on it, I called down to Max who was still seated comfortably on the floor.

"Okay! What do I do now?!" I shouted towards her liesurely form. I saw her face turn up to look at me. Her eyebrows rose in apparent surprise. She obviously hadn't expected that I'd get up here so quickly.

"Oh crap!" I heard her call and immediatly groaned. What had she forgotten this time? "I forgot to tell you! You have to cut holes in your shirt so your wings can extend!" I cursed under my breath. There was no way I was cutting holes in my shirt! It was new, and it was cute. Uh-uh. Then I remembered I was wearing a tanktop underneath. I sighed with relief and carefully tugged my shirt off before tossing it down towards the ground, yelling a mild catch to Max, who, of course, made no effort to save my top from hitting the ground. Well...what did I expect?

"Or, yeah...you can just...take your shirt off. That works too." Max said, watching me crouch on the branch again. "Alright, now what you're going to do, is jump. You're gonna be afraid, and you're gonna panic, but you have to rememeber, you have wings now. It's like having a parachute. Now...after you jump, count to three in your head, and then snap your wings out. Start flapping immediately. You might not get it at first, so just...flap sort of frantically. Like dog paddling in water, except, now you're flying." I listened carefully, wanting to get it right. Mostly so that I didn't die, but also because I wanted to show Max that I could too fly. That way I'd have at least SOMETHING to rub in her face.

"To flap your wings, you have to sort of...jerk your shoulder muscles. You have new muscles up there that are connected to your wings. Try practicing flapping before you jump." I gripped the branch tightly and tensed and untensed my shoulder muscles. And then I gave sort of an odd...squeeze, push motion with the muscles up there, and they suddenly snapped out. A stray feather shook loose, and I watched as it fluttered gracefully down to the mat of dirt far below me. I took a deep breath and attempted to move the wings. I couldn't really find it at first, but suddenly I hit something. I flexed some unknown muscle just the right way, and I was flapping them. Not very hard or very fast, but at least they were moving.

"Good! That's great!" cried Max from down below. "Alright...you ready to jump?" I looked down for the first time in a little while. It was such a long ways down. And the earth looked so much harder from up here. Every inch of dirt looked like a broken bone in my eyes. I felt my throat constrict, and my fingers were now clenching the branch so hard, they were soaked in a cream color that licked it's way up my fingertips. An odd tingling sensation chased the color up my arms and then drove itself throught the wall of my stomach. It churned, and I suddenly felt sick.

"Max! I don't know if I can do this, actually!" I called out in anxiety, the ground spinning as I tried to place Max in a solitary spot, for she seemed to swirl about with the rest of the scenery.

"Lissa! Close your eyes and take a deep breath!" My eyes immediately snapped shut, maybe more a response to the intense fear that shredded my nerves than her words. "Just breathe deep for a minute, okay?!" Her voice was from far below, but with my eyes closed, it seemed not quite such an intimidating distance now. "Alright...now...I want you to jump." I shook my head frantically.

"Uh uh! I can't! I'll die, I just know I will!" I was babbling in the prescence of horror now. Shuddering from the thought of the sheer danger I was supposed to let take control of me. Grace my form and wrap itself around me, entrapping me.

"Lissa, let go of the branch! You can do it! Just don't think about it!" And suddenly, I had launched myself from the branch. I was overwhelmed with such a sense of impulsiveness, that I nearly forgot to count to three. I was mere FEET from the ground when I finally registered Max's screams to snap my wings out already! And when I did, it was the best feeling in the world. I was launched suddenly backwards, and the wind zipped through every small space between each individual feather.

My eyes watered as the cold air stung them, and my head was thrown back in complete ecstacy as the wind teased my every cell. I tensed my muscles again and made my wings flap. I made them flap harder than ever before, and circled above the tree tops. I screamed out loud at the top of my lungs before joy could well up in my throat and make me incapable of speech. I saw Max down below, on her feet and cheering. I waved, forgetting all and any forms of hostility, anger or jealousy I had ever felt towards her. My entire being was consumed by the RIGHT NOWNESS of this moment, and I had a sudden urger to fly higher.

I knew Max had told me to stay just a little bit above the tree tops, but at this moment...screw the rules! Screw everything! I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, and what if I never knew what it felt like to do what I wanted to? What kind of life would I have lived? And I screamed again, flapping harder and pulling farther and farhter away from the treetops as I soared higher into the pink and orange painted sky.

* * *

**Max's POV **

"Lissa!" I cried at the top of my lungs. I had told her to only go just beyond the rim of the treetops, but I was now watching as she soared high above my advised area of flight. Some hundred feet above it! "Lissa! Get down! You're going to hurt yourself!" I was frantic now. I hadn't even told her how to land, yet! I ran my fingers through my hair in distress as circled high above. And she just laughed. I watched her scream with joy, and shriek with pure amazement. I had forgotten how magically flying had seemed the first couple times. And for a moment, I thought, _"Go ahead Lissa. Enjoy it while you can." _But then I saw her falter slightly. I saw her lose control of her wings. Even though it was only for a fraction of a second, she was still to unpracticed to regain control quickly enought to catch her fall. I watched in horror as she crashed towards the earth, through a thick layer of canopy. I shrieked, and dashed as fast as these legs would allow, ready to make any attempt to break her fall.

She smashed into various branches and crashed through the final layers. I threw myself through the air, arms outstretched in desperation. And felt her body collide ontop of mine. I saw stars as she smashed into my back, but quickly shook them off, and rolled out from under her. Her eyes rolled back into her head as they sank close. "Lissa!" I cried, gripping her shoulders. "Lissa! Open your eyes! Please, you can't close them, you might have a concussion!" I shook her shoulders with much force, waiting pathetically for her eyes to, by some miracle, suddenly snap open.

"No, no, no!" I cried, shaking harder, a few tears collecting in the rims of my eyes. Oh God, why had I EVER agreed to teach her to fly?! Why?! How could I be so stupid as to think she was ready for this?! Suddenly, I felt a hand gripping my wrist. I stopped my shaking motions and almost screamed with surprise. Lissa was fully awake, and despite looking a little dazed, seemed otherwise fine.

"Max..." she said shakily, pulling herself up. I held my arms out cautiously, ready to catch her if she suddenly collapsed. "Let's...let's do that that again." She giggled foolishly, swaying slightly. I snorted, and hurriedly wiped the tears from my eyes before she came to her senses.

"Ummm...how 'bout tommorow? Okay, Lis?" I asked slightly teasingly, helping her steady as she stumbled off in the direction of the nearest tree. "Right now...I think you need to sit down for a minute." I helped her sink to the ground and she leaned her head against the trunk of a large tree before beginnning to groan in pain.

"Oh god, I hurt everywhere." she moaned, clutching her head. I patted her shoulder comfortingly, forgetting who I was and what I was even doing for a moment.

"We'll get you some Advil inside as soon as you've...collected yourself a bit." I didn't want her going back to the house like this and blowing our cover. Suddenly I heard a rustle, and nearly jumped out of my skin. It was only a minor rustle, but anything seemed to alarm me these days. It had been so long since the school had made a move. It could be waiting around any corner. But the woods remained peacefull after that, and I slowly calmed down as Lissa became less disoriented.

"Shit, that was fun." she said longingly, looking up at the branch again.

"You are a dumb ass." Was all I responded to her with, before climbing to my feet, ready to go back inside, 'cause it was getting dark and the mosquitos were coming out. There was a sudden buzzing noise intruding on the silence, and Lissa's hand darted to her back pocket, pulling out her phone. It was vibrating. She flipped it open and read something, looking confused at first.

"It's Emily." she said, re-pocketing her phone. "I have no idea how she got my number, but she says that we really have to work on this whole bonding thing if we want to get back to our original bodies. We only have until midnight tomorrow." I groaned, hating to be reminded of our untimely deadline looming in the distance.

"God, I wish they would make reversing curses simpler. It would save people like you and me alot of time and effort, but then again...there would be a great shortage of ninja movies without it." Lissa snorted, but stopped to slap at a pesky mosquito. "Come on, let's get inside. I'm sure Anee has dinner on by now."

"Oooh! Food!" Lissa sprang up and darted towards the house. I rolled my eyes. That girl was going to drive me nuts. Well...more nuts than I already am, if you want to get technical.

* * *

**Ari's POV **

I had been confused. When I first spotted them out in the clearing. The red-head kept calling who I had thought to be Max, by the name Lissa. At first I thought it was a new cover name of some sort, but I had been monitering her closely for some time now, and I had presumed that she had stuck with Max. And then she had begun to call the red-head Max. I couldn't put two and two together. The way the red-head seemed to be teaching Max to fly, and the way Max seemed to be so much less...aware of her surroundings than she had been before. Everything had been turned upside down, it seemed.

But then, after that girl had pulled out her phone, everything became clear. So they had been cursed, was that it? Switched bodies, like in all those wierd movies? Well...that's what it seemed to be. I laughed to myself. I had come into this, expecting to have to give this mission my all. To go above and beyond anything else I had ever done. And all just to get into the world of Maximum Ride. But now...it seemed I was going to have fare less trouble diving straight to the depths of her twisted little world. To unearth every secret, and pick away at dear Max. To finally get her in my clutches and watch the very world I was determined to be emerged in shatter and collapse. I wanted to see her broken, and now, it seemed...this could possibly be one of the easiest things I had ever done. And I laughed. I laughed until I thought I could laugh no more. Laughed until I had tears in my eyes. It was all too easy. And it was exactly what I wanted.

* * *

A/N: Hahahahahahahah! Twist! Now your all excited! Here...have a Skittle!

Argh! My computer has an effing virus! Goddammit, it's not even the virus that's bothering me! It's my computer trying to FIX the virus that's screwing everything up!

Sorry, about having to put dashes in certain words. Like pis-s or fuc-k. For some reason, my computer won't let me swear! I know, right! It's like, seriously! What are you?! My mother. So...dashes are there so I can still get my point across correctly. Cause really...what sounds better....

A) This was making me severely angry OR B) This was really pis-sing me off

Yeah...that's what I thought

Did some thinking over the weekened. Just about random things. And then I started thinking about guys. And I came to this conclusion.

All the good guys are either:  
**A) **Taken,** B) **Gay,** C) **Currently residing in New Jersey, or** D) **All of the above

Sigh...the world is a messed up place. Anyways? Please review. That's all I ask of you....Please... %_% (Haha...that symbol kinda looks like a spider. I like it...) %_% You know...with the multiple eyes. What's that you ask? Why yes...I do believe I might be slightly retarded.

I was watching spider man, and you know what I realized? I **really** don't like him. Out of all the superhero's, he is defintely the biggest bitch. I mean come on, all he can do is complain and be angsty! Look...I'm sorry you got bit by radioactive spiders, or whatever, but dude! You can shoot fricken spider webs out of your wrists! Get over it. Shut up, and go kiss your hot girlfriend, okay?


	8. Betrayal of the Lowest Kind Part 1

A/N: I wanna take a picture of all of you and hang it on my wall, because you're all so beautiful. :) That's not creepy at all. But anyways, thanks again for you guys' patience. This chapter is dedicated to you! I stupidly neglected to tell you guys that I would be gone for eight days on a spring break trip to California. Sorry! But...I guess it was karma or something for not telling anyone, 'cause there was a huge earthquake while we were there! It was fun! Shit was falling off of shelves and the whole building was shaking!

Okay...none of you readers will understand what I'm going to say next, so... This is a response to someone who reviewed for me. Okay, Shayna-18...I would very much like to see your outline for the story. Ummm...no, I don't have an account on that thing you're talking about, but I would love to see the outline. Before you go ahead and give it to me, I just want to check on a few things to make sure it's okay with you.  
1. Would you be okay if I added or changed events in your outline? 'Cause that's kinda how I write, LOL...  
2. Keep in mind, I'm working on another story besides this, and I want to devote my time to it when I finish this one, so it might be awhile before I get your story up. I will certainly give you credit for the idea, and I'll notify you when I put it up. KK?  
3. I will try my best to do your story, but some things are just impossible to write sometimes. Like...you just can't think of anything for it. So...again, I'll do my best, but just be prepared if I can't shape anything around it. I like writing stuff that's interesting, and I would hate to make your no doubt lovely outline into some worthless piece of shit, you know what I mean? Thanks...  
Oh...thanks for the advice by the way. I kinda made her like that on purpose, because she's trying REALLY hard at this bonding thing. Sorry for not making it more obvious. :)

* * *

**Chapter 8: Betrayal of the Lowest Kind - Part 1**

**Max's POV **

We were greeted with the smell of Anne's delicious homemade Chicken Casablanca. A yummy dish she got from a friend of her's who went to India over the summer a couple years ago. Chicken, cinnamon, white beans, and lots of veggies. Lissa was practically drooling when we entered the kitchen through the back screen door. Fang and Iggy were sitting at the table already, watching (or in Iggy's case, listening to) the movie Matrix on Fang's laptop. The rest of the gang was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, Max..." said Anne as we seated ourselves at the table. "I'm glad you finally decided to join us today." I blushed, feeling bad that she had been worried. Lucky enough for me, there was only a hint of stern-ness in her voice. Lissa thankfully remembered to play her part, even including Anne's name.

"Sorry, Anne, I needed some stuff at the store, and then I remembered I had an extra credit project due Monday with Lissa. I guess I just got wrapped up in what I was doing. Sorry." I rose my eyebrows. Wow. A valid excuse. I was just slightly surprised that Lissa could be so good at thinking on her feet. I suppose I never really gave her a chance with that before, though. Anne just nodded, and proceeded to place a steaming plate of rolls onto the table. I reached out and grabbed one, forgetting that I was guest in this house. "Jeese, Lissa. Hungry?" Lissa said, calling out my mistake. I blushed and kicked her leg underneath the table. A slight twitch in the corner of her eye was the only indication that she was at all bothered by the blow.

"Well..." Anne said, ladeling the Chicken Casablanca into bowls. "A call would be nice next time, Maximum." Lissa just nodded. Suddenly, Anne turned to me. "Lissa, you are more than welcome to stay for dinner if you'd like." She was staring right at me. It took me a minute to realize that I had to get an offer so that I could eat here.

"What? Oh...um...sure that sounds nice. We've still got...a ways to go on our project. It's complicated." I placed the roll on the table in front of me, and folded my hands in my lap. Anne smiled.

"Sure...no problem. There's more than enough for everyone." She reached across the table and shut the cover of Fang's laptop. The boys both groaned. "Alright guys, enough of watching people blow up or whatever, it's time to set the table." They were each armed with bundles of silverware and stacks of plates and then set out to the battlefield. And neither of them looked very pleased with it. "Why don't you call your mother, Lissa? To make sure it's okay if you stay. You know...it would probably be fine if you spent the night, if you wanted to." I felt my eyes widen.

"Call my mother?" I said slowly. She looked at me a little oddly.

"Sure...here, what's her number?" Anne scooped the phone off of it's hook and prepared to dial, staring at me expectantly. I froze. I didn't know Lissa's number. I suppose it would look sort of odd if I didn't seem to know my own phone number. Angel suddenly scampered into the room. She caught my eyes and immediately understood.

"Ummm...555-1028." I blurted, using the numbers Angel spoke in my head, probably reading Lissa's mind. I watched as Anne dialed the numbers in for me, and then tossed me the phone. I caught it and held it up to my ear. I was greeted with a loud clattering noise when whoever was on the other line picked up.

"Hellooooooooo?" a woman on the other end slurred. I winced.

"Mom?" I said softly. There was more clattering and then the sounds of her trying to quiet someone down.

"Shhh! Shh! Quiet!" and then, "Lissa? Where the fuc-k have you been? I have been...been looking for you alllllllllllll over toon...town, I meannnnn." I sighed. She was such a nice lady.

"Umm...can I spend the night at Max's?" I asked casually, just getting this over with. There was a brief squeal as a response to something on the other end, and then silence.

"Who in God's fuc-king name is Max?!" she practically yelled into the reciever.

"Yeah...thanks. Love you too, Mom. Alright bye." I hung up and put the phone down onto the table next to my untouched roll. The group was gazing at me expectantly. "Yup. It's all good. I'm sure Max won't mind if I borrow some of her stuff for tonight?" Lissa shook her head, and I watched as Fang's eyebrows shot up a story or two. I'm sure it was odd seeing us interact so pleasantly, as we were usually straining not to bite eachothers heads off.

"Okay...then we are all ready for dinner." Anne said, placing a steaming bowl of Chicken Casablanca in front of each of our spots and then calling Gazzy, Nudge, and Total down to eat. I sighed, content, as everyone dug in. It didn't look like anyone had see through our facade. Except, of course, Angel, but she had a totally unfair advantage. Maybe...if we could just get this bonding thing down right, we could figure it out. Reverse this stupid friggen curse, and everything would go back to normal. A deep, tugging feeling in the pit of my stomach told me it wouldn't be so easy.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

After I had stuffed myself with bowl after bowl of Anne's delicious cooking, me and Max excused ourselves from the table and tramped back up to her room. I groaned as I swung myself onto her bed and placed my hands over my sickly full stomach. "Ugh...I bet I gained five pounds." I groaned. Max rolled her eyes and sat cross-legged on the floor at the foot of the bed. She tapped the rhythm to an unfamiliar song on the hardwood floor. There was a moment of silence. It wasn't awkward, though. More...the kind of silence you have when you just enjoy eachother's company.

All in all...this day really hadn't been so bad. I mean...besides the fact that I could be forever trapped in her body, it was alright. I guess after awhile, you just learn to deal with people and look past the little quirks that annoyed you in the first place.

"So..." Max finally said, rolling onto her stomach on the ground. I raised my eyebrows, indicating for her to continue. "So...um...what exactly--What exactly do you do at a sleepover, anyways?" I felt my mouth drop open.

"What?!" I gasped, shocked that she should ask such a question. She looked a little shy for a moment. Almost losing that tough-ass Max look for a minute. Letting her guard down.

"I--I said, what do you guys--" I cut her off before she could finish.

"No, no. I heard what you said, I'm just shocked. You're telling me you've never had a sleepover before?!" I couldn't comprehend it. Fourteen, and not a single sleepover? Where has she been?! Living in a cave?! Oh...wait...

"No! I mean...I've had sleepovers before...it's just--Well, I guess we did wierd odds and ends stuff. Like...we just listened to music, and chilled, and talked. I mean...from what I've seen of teen girl movies, we're doing it all wrong." She stammered over this little speech, for the first time since I had met her, seeming unsure. I just laughed, though.

"Max...you can't do it wrong. There's no **right** way to have a sleepover. It just...happens." I reassured her, staring up at her cieling. Max looked a little relieved.

"So...what now?" she asked. I smirked.

"Well...you've got most of the sleepover stuff down. The music, and the talking, and stuff...But...if you want, I could show you how teenage girls who didn't spend their childhood being raised by a man, party." I sat up on the bed eagerly. I loved this whole...party planning thing. I think maybe I'll do this when I grow up instead of being a model. Max looked a little...intimidated at first, I guess. She was out of her element, but I could tell she was about to say yes anyways.

"Okay, yay! Alright...the first thing you need is music. Got anything good?" She immediately crawled to her little desk, and cracked a drawer open, pulling out a whole carton of cds. "Wow...impressive. Okay...upbeat is always good for sleepovers. Got anything techno?" She sifted throught the cds.

"Ummm...I've got some Owl City, a little Panic at the Disco, I've got one of Ke$ha's albums from my birthday, courtesy of Nudge." I grinned, telling her to pop in the Ke$ha one first.

"Okay...now we need movies. A romance that'll make you cry first, so we don't go to bed sad. Then a comedy to get us all laughing, and after that, a horror movie when it's dark out. Maybe a rerun of some stupid cartoon after that, because everything's funnier when you're sleep deprived." Max looked wide-eyed as I explained the intricate workings of a full-fledged teen girl slumber party. Complicated, but every girl should know the basics at the very least.

"Then we'll need snacks, of course. How about mircrowave s'mores and Cap 'N Crunch? Classic slumber party food. And we can paint nails, and other fun shit! Let's go get ready!" I jumped up from the bed, more excited than I'd been in a long time. Max let out a skeptical little giggle, and jumped up, too.

"Okay...I'm in **way** over my head...but, please...lead the way." She said, opening her door and beckoning me to go first.

* * *

**Max's POV **

Lissa went all out with this whole sleepover thing. We ran downstairs, grabbing anything from the kitchen that looked, sounded, or smelled good. We ended up with a whole carton of strawberry ice cream, a half full bag of cheese puffs, a chocolate poptart to split, and then Lissa prepared four microwave s'mores for each of us. Fang is a big movie buff, so we dashed up to his room and raided his collection for the basics. We ended up with Titanic (for romance), The Breakfast Club (for comedy), and Rose Red (for horror). Then we piled a butt-ton of pillows and blankets onto my bed, and hauled one of our seldom used tvs into my room. After we had crawled into our pajama's and burried ourselves in blankets, we settled in to become obese and enjoy our movies.

* * *

The end credits for Rose Red were rolling now, and Lissa was mumbling something about the little girl's cripple arm and the sexy british dude in it. I yawned and stretched, fighting to be able to move my body under the mass of pillows and quilts. "Those--Those were good movies." I said, stifiling another yawn. Lissa nodded and flopped back from where she had been sitting up at the edge of my little bed. "What do we do now?" I asked, feeling utterly exhausted.

"Well...do you feel you've reached your full capacity of blaring television screens, gossip, and cheese puffs?" she asked lightly, looking like she was fighting just to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah...and I inhaled so much nail polish fumes I feel like a jew in a concentration camp." Somehow, my tiredness managed to let me say this with a straight face. Lissa snorted, tiredly though.

"Wow...we're so nice. Making fun of jewish people and all..." A moment of silence ensued. "Well, young grasshopper..." Lissa continued, "I've taught you well. Now...we descend into the chamber of slumber. AKA: we go night night." And she rolled onto her back, somehow managing to stay on the bed. It was a miracle. Oh...nope...now she's falling.

She hit the floor with a thud, and only groaned, having taken a thick layer of blankets down with her. I laughed a little. "Lissa..." I whisper shouted through the dark, the screen of the tv glowing just enough so that I could see her form in a crumpled heap on the ground. She didn't respond, so I tried again.

"Leave me alone!" she groaned back after my second attempt. "I'm too tired to move. I don't care if this feels like I'm a homeless person living in a cave. And my feet are so cold I think they're going to fall off. I just want sleep." I rolled my eyes, much of the effect lost seeing as she wasn't looking at me and it was dark. I heaved myself from where I was reclined back on the bed, and hobbled over to the tv, flicking it off so the dim glow didn't drive me insane in the middle of the night.

Then I dragged myself over to Lissa, and grabbed her by her arms, pulling her into a sagging, standing-ish position. "C'mon, Lis, climb into the bed." I murmured sleepily, dragging her over and pushing her limp form onto my bed. It was like carrying a one hundred and twenty pound rag doll. "There you go." I tossed a pile of blankets ontop of her so that she was mostly covered, and then tossed a pile down onto the floor for myself, as she had spread out, taking the entire bed. I nestled myself far into the blankets and relished in the warmth. I sighed.

I couldn't believe I had just had a sleepover with my worst enemy. Well...maybe she wasn't my worst enemy, but we're still not exactly great friends. The only reason I had agreed to that slumber party thing was because I wanted us to actually have some substantial bond that might give us a chance to reverse this. I looked up at her sleeping on the bed. Hmmm...

I stood up and pulled her off the bed to the ground. She just groaned, too tired to react. She spent all day tugging on my nerves and ignoring what I had to say. She can sleep on the floor for a night, and then we'll be pretty much even. I crawled into the bed and barracaded. Wow...today had been a very interesting, very complicated, and very annoying day. And it was one of my favorites. Wierd how things work out like that, huh?

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I had rolled myself partway off the bed, and all my blankets were off of me. I sat up abruptly, banging my head against the headboard of the bed. The bump startled Lissa, who had been laying peacefully on the floor until then. "Ow! Son of a bitch!" I said loudly, rubbing my aching head. Lissa squinted down at me through sleepy eyes.

"Is this how you wake all your guests, or am I just special?" She asked, pulling herself into a sitting position, so her feet were dangling in my face.

"First of all..." I began, "I don't normally wake my guests like that, just the obnoxious ones, and secondly...get some foot deoderant or something. It smells like Gazzy's armpit after he's been flying for a couple hours." I swatted her feet out of my face, and made fake gagging noises.

"Hey, they're you're feet." she defended, and quite validly, I might add. Lissa shifted a bit before a strange expression came over her face. "What the hell?" She reached a hand under herself and pulled out a disintigrating cheese puff. "I think I slept on this the whole night." She turned it in her fingers, examining it.

"The princess and the cheese puff." I said sarcastically, standing up and stretching out my sore back. I sniffed the air. The sweet scent of blueberry waffles was wafting into my room from the kitchen. "Mmmm....Waffle Sunday. The best day of the week. Ready to go eat?" Lissa had frozen, though. "What?" I asked, noticing her shocked expression.

"Oh my god. Is today really Sunday?" she said incredulously in a slightly wavering voice. I rose my eyebrows.

"Ummm...yep. Technically we're supposed to go to church and worship, but we just end up staying here and praising the inventor of waffles, instead. I think Gazzy even made a shrine to him in the basement." My attempt at early morning humor had no effect whatsoever on her expression. She stayed locked in shock.

"We have less than twenty-four hours to reverse this." she said weakly. I felt my eyes widen as well. My god, she was right. I looked down at my purple polished fingers and gulped. Okay...maybe this wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I would REALLY appreciate if I got my own body back, ya know? I ran my hands through the now slightly familiar red locks that rested on my shoulders, and tried to form coherent thoughts.

"Alright...it's cool. We're okay. We've still got time." I half mumbled to myself. I took a couple deep breaths just to get any worry out of my system, and then I was able to try to reassure Lissa. "Okay...we're okay right now. Umm...look, maybe we should just try really hard with this bonding thing today." I said, trying to think up ways to further bond with her.

"Didn't we do that yesterday, too?" she said skeptically. "And nothing happened. At all." I grimaced. She was pessimistic but right. I bit my lip. Suddenly there was the deep buzz of a cell phone set to vibrate coming from somewhere in a bundle of blankets. We looked at eachother, and then made a mad dash to recover it. We shook every inch of quilt and pillow we could get our hands on, but the phone continued to buzz. "Haha! Found it!" Lissa exclaimed, pulling the turquoise device from between the sandwhich of two pillows.

"Hello?" She said, picking up. There was a pause where I could hear the unidentifiable mumble of a voice on the other end. Lissa looked a bit annoyed, but apprehensive at the same time. "No, this is Lissa. Max? Yeah...she's right here." She held the phone out to me a little peevishly, but I took it from her and held it up to my ear.

"Ummm...hello?" I asked tentatively, wondering who it might be.

"Max? How's everything going? Has anything happened?" Emily's voice flowed through the speaker as she rattled off questions at an alarmingly fast pace.

"No, nothing's happened yet." I said a bit dejectedly. "We're working on it though." I heard her sigh on the other end. I could vaguely hear someone screaming angrily in the background. I couldn't make out the words. "Who's yelling?" I asked randomly.

"Huh? Oh...that's just some of my music. Alesana...sorry." There was a bit of shuffling and then the screaming stopped. "Okay...umm...well, have you guys been trying to get along at least?" I nodded eagerly, even though she couldn't see it.

"Yes. We spent all day together yesterday, and she stayed the night at my house and everything. We've been getting along just fine." I glanced at Lissa out of the corner of my eye. She was sitting on the bed again, picking nervously at her nails. Emily sighed again and there was more shuffling, and the sound of somebody clicking on the keyboard.

"Well...the site says you have to come to understand eachother, and accept one another. Have you been doing any of that?" I groaned.

"Emily...we hardly know eachother. We've been hanging out for what? A day now? We're doing the best that we can." Lissa looked up from her fingers and stared.

"I know, I know...I just can't think of anything else to do. I mean... you're running a little short on time, here." I glanced at the clock. Already ten in the morning. I thought for a minute.

"Tell you what...we'll head out for a little bit more time for...bonding or whatever. And if it seems like nothing's working, we'll head over to your place and go from there." I suggested, going in on the fly. Just making it up as I went along.

"Seems like our best bet at this point. How about if you're not making any progress by... four o' clock, you head over here straight away? 'Kay?" I told her that seemed like a good idea, and as we had no more to talk about, said goodbye and shut the phone. I tossed it back to Lissa.

"Okay...you, me, bonding. What do you want to do?" I asked, rubbing my temples.

"Ummm....lunch and the mall?" she suggested quickly. I hopped up.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I've been wanting to eat out for awhile now, anyways. Pizza Hut okay with you? There's one really close to the mall." She gave her consent, and we ran downstairs to get waffles, because...if you have imminent doom looming in the near future, you might as well eat waffles. That's just the way life works.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

"Table for two?" Max said to the hostess as we entered the dingy Pizza Hut and walked up to the counter. The hostess was clad in a silky purple blouse and a dark grey pencil skirt, paired with black Stilettos. Cute. Very cute. Looks like something I would wear if I worked in an office or something. She brushed her dark brown behind her ears and looked up at us with her blue eyes under a thick window of lashes. Classic American beauty.

"Right this way." She said, grabbing two menus and leading us to a booth near the back of the restaurant. "The waitress will be right with you." And with that she left us to ponder pizza choices as she went to attend to the group of elderly ladies that had just entered.

"What are you gonna have?" I asked Max in somewhat of a whisper, my gaze slipping over the items listed on the laminated menus. She shrugged.

"I usually just get the buffet. It's all you can eat." I glanced at the buffet layed out just a few feet from us. All the pizza and breadsticks on display had me drooling in a matter of minutes. Max smirked. "So the buffet it is." she said, setting her menu down in front of her and glancing around for our waiter. A short, stocky blonde approached and took our orders, telling us to go ahead and grab what we wanted from the buffet when we were ready.

"By the way," she said, just as she was about to walk away, "I love your hair. It's gorgeous." This was, of course, directed at Max, but I beamed, knowing it would have been me she would have said it too, had we been in our rightfull bodies. We scrambled over to the buffet soon afterwards, and I looked over everything they had layed out. My first instinct was to go to the salad section and load up my plate with a non-fat alternative. But then it occured to me that I really didn't want salad at the moment. I wanted pizza. Slice after slice of it's cheesy goodness. So that's exactly what I got. Max soon followed suit.

* * *

Six slices of pepperoni, and five of cheese later, I was hunched at our booth, sipping my Dr. Pepper and wating for Max to finish what could only be her third slice. "Dude is that all your gonna eat?" I asked her, knowing that she normally ate like a horse. She shrugged, though.

"I don't know...ever since we switched, I've been WAY less hungry than I usually am. It is my policy that I eat until I am full. And I intend to do just that. Except...my intake has been reduced. Probably because you have a smaller stomach and don't need as many calories as I normally do." She set down her crust, which she apparently didn't like, and signaled the waitress that we were ready for the bill.

As Max was counting some dollar bills she'd had in her pocket, a question entered my mind. "Hey, Max?" She stopped counting and looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "Umm...what's the deal with you and Fang?" A puzzled expression fell over her features.

"What do you mean?" I shrugged, and thought for a minute, wondering how to phrase it without sounding wierd...

"Well, like...What are you to eachother? Is it like, brother-sister relationship, or...other stuff?" I didn't want to come right out and ask if she and Fang were an item. Would that totally give away my crush on Fang?

"Oh...we're actually kinda best friends. And...co-leaders, I guess, if you look at it in a status sort of way." That was her simple statement. Nothing more was said. I pressed for a bit more.

"So...that's it? You're not like...You've never been?" I made gestures with my hands, trying to indicate what I was thinking. A look of surprise replaced her confusion.

"Together? No...we've never been together. I don't...I don't like...like him like that." She was wearing a rather odd expression as she told me this. Almost like she was biting her tongue, trying not to say something. Or trying not to say the wrong thing. I decided to brush it off. This conversation was a little awkward for me. "So...to the mall now?" She asked. I nodded, and we slid out of the booth, exiting the restaurant.

* * *

It was about a five minute walk from the pizza hut to the mall. We were silent for most of the way. When we were entering the mall's parking lot, I felt my phone buzz in my jacket pocket. Quickly pulling it out, I checked the number before sighing and debating whether or not to answer. I knew she would call sooner or later. My mom's cell phone number was displayed clearly across the caller ID bar. I groaned and tossed it to Max.

"What do you want me to do with it?" she asked, looking incredulously at my little cell phone."

"Answer it, dumbass." was all I said, already in a bad mood. I knew whatever my mother would say would be nothing good.

"Why do I have to answer it? It's your phone." she protested. At this rate the phone would quit ringing before she could answer it anyways.

"Well, you have my voice at the moment, so please pick up the mother fuc-king phone." It may seem that I'm over-reacting with the anger just a smidge, but if you'd had to deal with MY mother for however many years, you'd be kinda pis-sed too. Max sighed and flipped open the phone, bringing it harshly to her ear.

"Hello?" She sounded like a sulking teenager. Perfect. There was a pause where my mom was saying something, and then Max spoke again. "I'm uh--I'm at a friend's house working on a project." Another pause ensued. "Yes, I spent the night at her house last--I know, I'm sorry. But, I did call, you were just--Sorry." Max frowned, and I could hear the garbled sound of my mom yelling on the other end. "Yeah...yeah...I'll be home soon. Clean the kitchen? Umm...yeah. Okay, love you too. Bye." She shut the phone and groaned. "Your mother is an absolute ray of sunshing when she's hungover." she said sarcastically, handing the phone back to me.

"Isn't she just?" I didn't even bother with a sarcastic tone. Teenage angst added a nice ring to it. I think sarcasm would have over-done it. "What did she say?"

"Just that she didn't know where you were, and what happened. She has a 'massive hangover', and that dude she had over last night left. I think he was coming back with something, though. She didn't say what. Oh, and when you get home, you have to clean the kitchen. She said it looks like 'more of a shithole than your room.'" I just grinned. Ah...mom...you are such a bitch. I love you. Max yanked open the mall doors, and walked quickly over to the large map in the center of the entrance, which was the food court. I grabbed a sample from wierd Jamaican woman, and went to join her.

"What are you doing?" I asked, watching her look over the map with scrutinizing eyes.

"Trying to figure out where to go. I don't know where anything is in this place. Me and the flock don't really....DO malls." I gasped. Was she some sort of mutant, that she's never been to the mall. Well...forget that analogy. Regaurdless of her human to bird ratio status or whatever, it was still weird.

"Are you kidding?! I know this mall like the back of my frickin' hand." I even held up my right hand with emphasis. "Where do you wanna go? I know how to get wherever, I guarantee it." I gestured to the expanse of shops around us. This mall was basically my second home. It's where I went when I was bored, when my mom wasn't home to cook dinner, and I couldn't find enough money for takeout. I came here when she had guys over so that I could hear something other than her riding a random stranger. This thought triggered others.

Believe it or not, sometimes, I worried about my mom. She's brought some pretty weird people back to the house. And I mean creepy even for her. There's been times when they've actually beaten her up, or drugged her. I'd come home and find her ontop of the coffee table or some wierd place, all bruised and totally out of it. It scared me sometimes. Like, I didn't know what they were going to do to her.

"Umm...hello, earth to Lissa." Max's voice snapped me out of my gnarled thoughts. "I've been trying to talk to you for the last five minutes." I apolgized and waited for her to go on. "I said, where do you like to shop?" I thought for a minute.

"How about Charlotte Russe?" I said, motioning towards the store across from a Payless Shoes. Max quirked an eyebrow.

"Ummm, okay. Onward to the fancy Frech store." I rolled my eyes and walked off in the direction of the store, trying to worry less about my mother, and more about cute shoes, and dresses.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, no excuses. Just lazy. Long time, no update, huh? Sorry. Nothing much to say, just that part two is on it's way soon. This just woulda been like, a ten thousand word doc, so I decided to split it in two. It's two a.m., and I can't sleep. Think I'll go watch some more Medium and cuddle with my kitty cat. Sounds good to me. :D


	9. Betrayal of the Lowest Kind Part 2

A/N: Hey...I'm working on weekly updates, because you guys are so awesome, and I love you. I know I hate it when authors take months and months to get their next chapter up. (And you're all, like, "OMG, I'm never reading this story again!" But then you see that it's updated, and you get all excited, so you read it despite of earlier promises, and you can't wait for them to update next. But, of course, they NEVER do, and the cycle starts over again.) But that... is beside the point. The point is...that I am eating oatmeal right now. But also, probably that I'm trying harder for weekly updates. Look down a little bit...(no! just a little further!) and my promise shall be fulfilled with the grace of my ninth installment of Switched!

* * *

**Chapter 9: Betrayal of the Lowest Kind - Part 2 **

**Max's POV **

I have never seen ANYONE try on as many shoes as Lissa did in that one tiny little store, whose name I can't remember. I couldn't help but wonder what obligated a girl to compare two pairs of the exact same shoe for almost half an hour. Or to debate whether or not mauve was "her color". As far as I'm concerned, the shoe either fits or it doesn't. But apparently the teenage society of girl has it boiled down to an exact science. This had been me and Lissa for the last forty-five minutes:

**Lissa**: "Do these look cute on me?"

**Me**: "Yeah...actually, I like them alot."

**Lissa**: "Ugh...I don't know why I even put these on! They look terrible with my skin tone!"

After all that time, we had but one pair of shoes. Yes...uno. I hobbled out of the store in a trance-like state with visions of peep-toes dancing in my head.

"So, where to next?" Lissa asked, looking like she was at home. Interesting, because all the employees here knew her by name. Well, I guess, **ME** by name. I'd heard, "Hey, Lis, what's up?" more times then I'll ever want to. I shrugged in response to her question, secretly dreading another hour in some unpronouncable shop, comparing a purple pump to a silver sandal. I suddenly caught sight of a store that looked completely unoccupied by specimens of the shoe variety. I quietly rejoiced. The mall gods were obviously pleased with me.

"What about...Zumies?" I questioned pointing in the direction of the store. Boys in skinny jeans and beanie caps poured out of it. **(A/N: Sorry, don't mean to be stereotypical. I'm sure many other kinds of people go there. Just her POV) **Lissa crinkled her nose.

"You like that sort of stuff?" she asked skeptically, eyeing a boy with hair almost as long as hers, manning the register. I shrugged. I'd seen Iggy come home with a couple items from this store every now and then. Mostly odds and ends t-shirts and a couple pairs of shoes. "Well okay, I guess I had you in Charlotte Russe for a bit. You go in first, though." I rolled my eyes and proceeded into the store. I casually looked at a couple of shirts, not really interested in buying anything at the moment. After a few minutes of being in the place, Lissa handed me her jacket so that she could try something on. I was surprised, but took the jacket anyways. I was looking at a bright green one when a guy of about twenty with dreadlocks and a nose ring pushed past me.

"Excuse you..." I muttered grumpily, turning to another section. Then I heard his voice behind me. It was deep, gravelly, and sort of scary in an odd, rapist way.

"Hey, honey. I like them shorts on you. They look real good." I turned around, as I wasn't wearing shorts, and saw him talking to Lissa who was standing nervously by a display of skinny jeans. "You looking for something? I been in this store lots. I could help you find something." He threw a meant-to-be-dazzling-but-really-just-comes-out-looking-like-my-eye-had-a-seizure wink at her. She winced and turned away, trying to make her way over to me.

"No, I think I'm good." she muttered, stepping over an abandoned box of shoes laying in the aisle. He smirked at her, grabbing her elbow.

"Hey, sugar, you mind picking those up for me?" He gestured to the shoes on the floor and grinned, his eyes traveling to her rear. I growled. He was basically hitting on ME! She shook her head and tried to get away again. He held tight to her elbow. "Aw, come on! I was just kiddin' with ya. Why don't I make it up to ya. Can I buy you a drink or somethin'?" I stalked off down the aisle, annoyed by this misogynistic, creep who was hitting on my frie--....er aquaintance.

"Excuse me." I said, butting into the conversation, and pulling her elbow out of his reach. "I think she'd really appreciate it if you'd left her alone. Now run along...I'm sure there's plenty of under age girls to hit on over there in Claire's." I started to walk away, but he persisted.

"Hold on now...I think she can decide fo' herself. So, what do ya say, hot stuff?" He stretched out his sickening hand and carressed the side of her face. I lost it. Totally. I launched myself at him, my weight bringing him down to the painted cement floor. I didn't have him for long, though. I had forgotten that, along with Lissa's body, I'd also inherited her strength. Meaning...I was pinned after about ten seconds. "Are you crazy, bitch? What do you think you're doing?!" he exclaimed, shaking my shoulders. Suddenly, two large hands were around his neck, pulling him off of me.

"I think these ladies would really appreciate it if you got out of this goddamm store now!" My jaw dropped. Fang was standing tall, his hands wrapped around the asshole's neck. He shook him forcefully, and then practically tossed him towards the exit. The guy went skidding away, smashing into the display for jeans. He jumped up and literally ran from the store, looking back behind himself frantically, to see if Fang was following. He pulled me up from my awed position on the floor, and then turned to Lissa, who I suppose he would see as me. "You okay?" he asked her, a tint of nervousness coloring his voice.

Lissa's face was completely frozen for a fraction of a second, before a huge, teeth-bearing smile dug it's dimples into her freckled cheeks. "Wow...that was really brave of you, Fang." she said, not bothering to dim the blush setting up camp on her face. He looked at her quizically, not used to hearing anything like that from Max. Normally I would think of a smart-ass comment to egg him on. It was hardly ever that I sincerely complimented him.

"You okay, Max? Did he, like, hit you in the head or something?" he asked jokingly, but looking like he might run and kill the guy if she said yes. Lissa batted her eyelashes at him and shook her head flirtatiously. Lissa could do anything flirtatiously. I wouldn't put it past her if she could, like, vomit flirtatiously or something. I scrambled over to Lissa's jacket, which I had dropped in the whole beat-down thing.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, walking over to join their little talk fest. For some reason, I didn't like it when she talked to him like that. Fang looked at me like he was just realizing I was there. That annoyance welled inside me again.

"I was actually just walking around, and I thought I heard Max's voice. Lucky I came in when I did, huh?" And there he went with his little ego again. "Actually, Max, I saw something for Angel's birthday. You should see it." He gestured towards the exit. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Yeah sure....I'd love to." Lissa answered almost excitedly. Fang's puzzlement was glistening in his chocolate eyes. I started to follow the pair of them out of the store, stepping over the clutter of jeans that the manager was doing his best to ignore. Suddenly, Lissa swung around, stopping me in my tracks. "Hey, M--Lissa...could you run and grab everyone some coffees at Gloria Jean's? I'm really thirsty." I stared incredulously at her. What did she think I was? Her slave?!

"Um...no." I said bluntly, starting to walk again. Lissa completely ignored the fact that I had blatantly declined her request.

"Umm...I'll just have a hot chocolate, and here's some money." She gave me the last ten dollars she had stowed away. "Drinks are on me." Fang had continued to walk, and she dashed to catch up. I was about to follow them regardless of what she'd said, when Mr. I-Need-A-Haircut at the register, spoke up.

"Hey, your friend kind of, um....threw a guy into this display here. Could you, by any chance, help me clean it up?" I couldn't believe it. I felt like a frickin' maid! As you would say in text-slang, #%$*!!!!! By the time I tore my gaze away from our fair-haired man-maiden, Lissa and Fang were out of sight. I stooped down by the piles of spilled jeans, and started stacking them randomly. I quickly got impatient with the task, and fled from the store, ignoring the protests of Goldie-Locks behind the counter.

I had no idea where Pac Sun might be located, but I spotted the Gloria Jeans just across the way. "You know what, Lissa? You can suck it." I said under my breath. "I'm not getting you a hot chocolate. I'm getting myself one, and I'm going to drink it in front of you."

I was standing in the little line of people at Gloria Jean's when I felt a buzz against my arm. Looking down, I realized I still had Lissa's jacket slung over my arm, and her phone must be in the pocket. I dug through the layers of fabric and pulled it out.

"Hello?" I asked tentatively, prepared to be greeted with the hoarse grumble of Lissa's mother, where the words seemed to spill from her mouth. But the voice was defintely not Lissa's mom's.

"Is this Max or Lissa?" she asked. I tried to place who the voice belonged to. "I was just wondering how things were coming along." Emily...that must be it.

"Um...well, it's okay right now. This is Max, by the way." I said, moving forward in the line, and looking at the menu for the first time.

"That bad, huh?" Emily sighed, sounding a bit stressed. The ever present screaming could be heard in the background. I don't know if she read my mind or what, because it suddenly switched to a quieter, less rushed beat. I shrugged.

"It's not terrible--Hold on." I placed my hand over the reciever and told the woman behind the counter that I wanted a large hot chocolate, and a brownie, planning on spending every last dime of Lissa's money. I put the phone back up to my mouth. "I mean...right now she's run off with Fang somewhere, but..." I waited impatiently while they brewed the hot chocolate.

"Alright, well...it's almost two o' clock, so..." I groaned, knowing the effects of her words. We had until four until we were supposed to give up on bonding, and try any voodoo ways Emily could find. That's just great...If I didn't get stuck in somebody else's body for the rest of my life, I would probably be poisoned by some concoction Emily whipped up.

"I know, I know...I'll go find them. Maybe Lissa will have lost a shoe or something, and need help finding it. To that girl, there is no greater form of connection than with another human being who has saved her precious sandal." Emily snorted on the other side, then bade me goodbye. The lady handed me my hotchocolate and brownie, moving on to the next customer. It was a girl probably my age, standing in line with what could only have been her best friend.

"Umm...can we have two cappuccinos, please? One with extra whipped cream, and the other with a shot of caramel?" The woman nodded, and went to go make their drinks. The girls started to laugh at something one of them had said as they waited cheerfully for their drinks.

"You know me so well..." The other girl said when she was handed her drink, which was practically just a mountain of whipped cream. I was casually examining the desert display so as not to seem strange.

"You guys friends?" I asked randomly, catching the attention of the one who had ordered the caramel shot. She looked puzzled for a second before her face lit up.

"Practically sisters." Was all she said, squeezing the other girls hand excitedly. With that, the two of them left the little coffee shop, rounding the corner and heading off to the Borders by the food court. I took a look at the menu once more, and then at the spare change in my hand. Sighing, I walked back up to the counter.

"Sorry...can I get one more hot chocolate, no whipped cream?"

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

Fang led me past the hustle and bustle of the center of the mall, where all the little sales people were set up with their tables, pushing bottles of lotion at you, and burning your corneas with endless sprays of "Razzle Me Raspberry" perfume. "It's just over here." he muttered quietly, flinching away from a woman trying to get him to buy a Canadian hat. We walked into the brightly lit store I never went to, and slipped to the back of the almost empty shop. He searched for a moment, and then pulled something off of a hanger, holding it out. It was a light pink t-shirt with a pair of silver wings on the back. On the front, in curly silver letters, were the words "Born to Fly".

"I--I didn't know if this--If she'd like it. I don't usually...you know..." He said quietly. I laughed softly.

"Oh Fang, I think she'll love it." I said encouragingly. He thought for a minute.

"It's on clearance...if we get it, you're checking out. I'm not buying a little girl's shirt. It's creepy." I giggled and reached for the shirt. The fabric slipped from my hands and fluttered to the floor. We both bent down at the same time, our faces inches apart. We didn't dare pull away, caught up in eachother's eyes. I finally found the ounce of courage it took to make me make the first move.

"How do you feel about me, Fang?" I whispered, still inches from his perfect face. He seemed at a loss for any sort of verbal conversation.

"I--I don't--" He squeezed the words from his pale lips; I watched them slip into the palms of my hands. I pressed them against his cheek.

"You don't feel anything at all?" I pouted. He stuttered something I couldn't understand. I slowly bent my face forward and pressed my glossy lips to his. All attention dissappeared, and everything slipped away. It was great, but his touch didn't send the sparks through me that I thought they would. His lips didn't mold to mine as I was so sure they would have. Instead of filling the strange whole I could never seem to stitch up, it felt as though whatever was supposed to be filling it was only splashing against the edge and never quite into it. Slipping right past. My eyes slid open, and I could see his, a reflection of shock. He had nothing either. I could tell... Just as I was about to pull away, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey guys--" I whipped around, nearly falling backwards in shock. Max was standing there, two cups of hot chocolate grasped in her hands. A glazed look came over her eyes. Her mouth fell into a small line of no emotion. She bent down, set one of the hot chocolates on the floor in front of her, and turned without a backward glance to exit the store.

"Max!" I cried on impulse.

"Max?!" Fang said, his voice slain with puzzlement. "What's going on?" I sighed heavily, and began to run after her, leaving a severely confused Fang pressed up against a rack of shirts.

* * *

**Max's POV **

I finally spotted the Pac Sun store, two hot chocolates and a brownie grasped firmly in my hands. I shuffled over and walked in, my entrance being announced with a low beep. The woman behind the counter (a curvy woman with long, strawberry-blonde hair) looked up and smiled. I glanced around the nearly empty place in search of Lissa and Fang. Had they ditched this place already? Suddenly I saw a pair of black Chucks under a shelf. Fang's shoes. I sighed with relief and ran as quickly as I could with two steaming cups of hot chocolate to meet them.

"Hey, guys--" I said, rounding the corner, before stopping abruptly. Droplets of hot cocoa sloshed over the side and pitter-patted to the brown cement floor. A couple fell on my sneaker. My eyes were fixed on the two people in front of me. Lissa was wrapped around Fang like some sort of freaky koala, and there was Fang kissing right back. She suddenly whipped around, now brown eyes wide with unsuspecting shock. A strange feeling welled up in me, and threatened to bubble over in the form of salty tears. I suppressed them, but my eyes stung with such severity, I could hardly see.

Without a word, I placed Lissa's drink on the floor, the venom of betrayal burning my throat. I practically ran from the store, not getting out before I heard Lissa call out my name. My real name. I felt mad enough to spit. I chucked my hot chocolate into a nearby garbage, watching flecks of brown splatter over the cover, startling bystanders. I continued to dash to an exit. Once outside, I realized I had nowhere to go. These were the times I wished I had my wings. Fast escape into nothingness. I kicked an empty soda cup, sending it's contents scattering across the sidewalk. I heard the doors crash open behind me.

"Max, wait! I can explain!" And here she came crying, expecting me to forgive her. "Max..." she huffed, coming to stand in front of me. I resisted the urge to punch her in the face, standing my ground, and moving in another direction. "Wait...what are you so upset about?" I laughed bitterly, not responding. "Max!" She cried. I finally spun around on my heels. She flinched a bit, as though I might lash out.

"I don't know, Lissa. Maybe the fact that you were kissing my best friend right in front of me!" I almost spat the words at her. She looked shocked.

"What does this have to do with--Oh my god! I thought you said you didn't like him like that!" she yelled, a look of anger coming into her eyes. "You told me you had no feelings for him whatsoever! That leaves him fair game to me!" That hit a nerve.

"He's not a piece of meat!" I yelled, furious with how she treated him like some sort of prize to be won. "He's a person, who can make decisions for himself, and--and!" I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Yeah! He **can** make decisions, Max! Maybe his decision was me! Not everybody wants you Max, you're not the most important thing on this Earth!" I groaned.

"Lissa, are you senile, or what?! You're in my body! He thought he was kissing me, not you, idiot! Do you know what you've done?!" I yelled in frustration for her not being able to understand. "You've ruined everything! I'm never gonna be able to act normally around him!" I couldn't believe I was freaking out over something so...so...cliche teenage-girlish!

"I can't believe you..." she said venomously. "You tell me you don't like him, but then you get all offensive when I make a move. Could you make up your mind?" I glared at her. It was all I seemed capable of doing at the moment. "I don't understand you Maximum Ride. I just wanted to know what it felt like to have someone like me, for once in my life!" I rolled my eyes.

"Please, Lissa. You've been out with three quaters of this town's male population." She lost it.

"You bitch! You nasty, filthy whore! I can't believe you!" She charged at me, and started pulling at my hair. I'm not even kidding you. It was like something you'd see on 'Bad Girls Club'. In the midst of all the chaos, I failed to notice something vitally important to my well-being going on behind me. A small rally of erasers was congregating in the parking lot. It was Lissa who heard them. She stopped attempting to shave my head with her fingernails, and stared out at the group of them. About seven, I'd say. "What are those?" she asked tentatively.

I gulped, not quite sure what to do. It seemed like nothing, but I had practically no strength in this body, and Lissa had no idea how to fight. They didn't even plan on a surprise attack, just started running right at us. Lissa screamed, and tried to run. I grabbed her arm. "Stay behind me." I told her icily. I may be angry at her, but I didn't want her dead. At least not by somebody else's hand. The first eraser smashed into me with the force of a small train. I barreled to the floor, the beast ripping at my shoulders and snarling. I fought back a scream as he shredded my skin. I pushed him off with all my might, and rolled out of the way, scrambling as it climbed to it's feet.

Lissa had bitch-slapped one into oblivion and was now running frantically away from a second. I did the only thing I could think of. I jumped on its back. Not only did this slow it down substantially, it also kept me away from the one chasing me. I smacked it's neck as hard as I could, but it didn't do much. Eventually he tossed me off, and I rolled to the ground, scraping all up my painfully broken arm. I groaned and rolled onto my side, while a group of three erasers towered over me.

Lissa kicked one in the balls, bringing it to its knees. "Bring your fist down on it's neck!" I cried. She, of course, refused to listen to me and only kicked it in the stomach. It proceeded to vomit on her shoes.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Lissa screeched, shaking her feet frantically. "Those were new shoes, bitch!" She cried, bringing her fist down so hard on it's neck, I heard a sickening crack. Without so much as a howl, it collapsed on the sidewalk. Many people were screaming, running in the parking lot, and looking at the group of us in awe. An eraser picked me up by my shoulders, and held me out in front of him. My legs weren't quite long enough to plant a kick anywhere detrimental to his health. It looked like it was going to tear me apart.

Lissa looked at me, and I knew what she was going to do. "Lissa, no! You can't! There's too many people watching!" But it was too late. She let her wings unfold. MY wings unfold. She flapped fiercly, and more people started to scream and run. Lissa soared high, and then dive bombed the pack of erasers that had me trapped. I fell to the floor. She kicked one in the jaw mid-air, and another one in the gut. Then she picked them up and slammed them down so hard on the concrete, they probably broke their backs. Then she grabbed me by the arms and half flew, half dragged me as far as she could.

When we were about a mile away, she landed, looking triumphant. "Wow, cool...I never knew I could do that." was all she said.

"Cool?!" I exclaimed. "Do you know how many people know that I have wings now? I'm going to have to move again!" I yelled. I couldn't believe she had done that.

"Jeese, Max. Can't I do anything without being yelled at?"

"No! Because you can't do anything right!" I bellowed. "You're mixing everything up! This stupid, stupid, mother-fuc-king stupid curse!" She glared.

"I'm sorry for saving your life." she droned sarcastically. "I promise I'll never to it again." She turned and started to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I guess you don't need me anymore. I mean...what use am I? I can't do anything right." she said, playing up the drama. She spread her wings out wide. "See ya later, Maximum." She took off with a mighty flap and soared out of sight, leaving me completely alone on some backroad with nowhere to go. Wishing I hadn't left Lissa's jacket where ever I had, I started to walk towards a street sign that looked at least vaguely familiar.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I soared high over the trees, that feeling of unexperienced joy, overwhelmed still by my anger at Max. Why did everything always have to be her way. It's not like she did everything right, anyways. She messed up from time to time. Like breaking **MY** arm, or telling me she didn't like Fang. I couldn't believe she was mad at me for that. I can specifically recall her saying to me "I don't like him like that." Ugh...she just annoyed the shit out of me, sometimes. Now you see why I didn't like her in the first place.

Something my Mom used to tell me, a long time ago, before my Dad left, popped into my head. I used to get into fights with Emily sometimes. Back when we were friends. Something stupid would happen, and we would be at it again. Vowing never to speak to eachother. I would come home from school, with big, little-girl tears dripping down my face. She would sit me down on her lap, in her big, 'mommy bed' (as I called it back then), and have me tell her all about it....

_"What happened, Lissabug? Why are you crying?" I sniffled and climbed up to sit with her on her mommy bed. She told me when I was old enough, that I would get a mommy bed just like hers. But if I got one now, my little-girl bed would miss me too much, so we had to wait until it was ready to say good-bye. _

_"Me and Emily had a fight today at school." I told her, wiping my stinging eyes. She handed me a tissue from her bedside table. "We were playing house, and she wouldn't be the baby. She wanted to be the mommy, but I already told her that I was gonna be the mommy today. I was the baby last time." I burried my face in her shoulder and she rocked me back and forth. After awhile, I pulled back. "Do you think we'll ever be friends again, mommy?" I squeaked. She smiled that big warm smile she said I always had when I was happy. _

_She said that God had liked her smile SOOOOO much, that he decided there couldn't be just one, so he gave a big smile to me too, so he would always be able to laugh at our smiles. "Oh, I'm sure of it, Lissabug." And she kissed my nose, and wiped away the last of my tears. I thought about something for a minute, before she asked what I was thinking about. _

_"Oh nothing..." I said. " I was just wondering why friends fight so much, all the time." Then mommy put on her thinking face for a bit. _

_"Well, you wanna know what I think?" she asked, grinning. I nodded eagerly. "I think that friends fight so much because, sometimes, they're SOOOO much alike, that they want the same things. Emily's stubborn just like you. And she wants to grow up fast, just like you." Then she kissed my nose and hugged me tight. _

_"So...we're so much alike, that we fight sometimes? Is that why we fight sometimes, mommy?" She noddded. _

_"But just know..." she whispered in my ear, "That I will ALWAYS love you, no matter how much we fight. No matter what you say or do, nothing will ever stop me from loving you." I smiled big, just like her. "Now...how about we go downstairs and make a pizza for dinner? I'll let you make the sauce, love bug." _

I hadn't even realized it, but I had landed. I was hunched on the ground in the middle of some street, crying as I reminisced the times when my mom still said things like "I love you", or hugged me. My body shook with inward pain. I loved my mom, I really did. I just hated what she'd become. Ever since my dad left it was the drinking and the men, and the drugs. No time for Lissabug anymore. No time to make pizzas for dinner, or tell me everything would be alright. I cried harder. I guess I was a bit to old for dear mummy to come and save me now, huh?

And then there was Max. My mom had always said friends fought because they were too much alike, but I was nothing like Max. Was I? I couldn't be. I mean sure, we were both stubborn, and liked our way. We hated being told what to do, and we certainly weren't followers. We were leaders. Just...she led her family, and I led...the eighth grade. Were we really that different? I was pondering this, when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and nearly screamed.

Walking towards me, was a giant man, fur all over his body, and fangs protruding from his mouth. I scrambled backwards. "Unless you have balls of steel, you'd better get away from me!" I yelled furiously at it. It ignored my threat, and continued to walk. "What?! Do you **WANT **me to kick you in the balls?!" He stopped.

"You're the one they call Lissa, right?" he asked. I thought for a moment.

"No...I'm the one they call Max." I lied. "Now what do you want from me?" He grinned.

"You don't have to pretend, Lissa. I already know what happened. Where's Max?" I glared at him.

"What's it to you where she is? She's no use anyways, she's in my body. 'Weak', as she calls it." I was grumbling about her again, all former considerations of likeness, forgotten.

"Ah...she's a piece of work isn't she? Spoiled little brat. She been as nasty to you as she's always been to me?" He asked. I nodded solemnly, no longer in real fear of this wolf-man. He didn't seem interested in hurting me. Only in finding Max. "That's too bad. You seem like a nice girl. Where is she, anyways? I'm sure I could teach her a lesson or two for you." He grinned, but it didn't creep me out the way it might have a second ago. This man was siding with me. No one ever sided with me in regards to Max. I felt...powerful, almost.

"I don't know...she was yelling at me, so I took off. I don't know where she ended up." He frowned. Then he held something out.

"Is this yours? I found it in the parking lot of the mall." He was holding my jacket out to me. I took it suspiciously.

"Yeah...how'd you know? You haven't been following me, have you?" He let out a low chuckle, something sounding like thunder.

"No...I just saw what happened in the parking lot. Max dropped it. I'm Ari, by the way." I nodded.

"Well...my name's obviously Lissa, you know that. What are you doing here?" He pondered my question.

"Well...I've been trying to give Max a taste of her own medicine for quite some time now. You see...I've known her since I was little, and she left me to rot for all she cared. Betrayed me. She didn't do that to you, did she?" I shook my head.

"No...she just got mad at me for saving her life." I left out the part about Fang. I'm sure he would find it trivial and girly. He nodded wisely.

"You know...you could help me teach her a lesson, you know. If you just told me where she was." I sighed.

"I told you, I have no idea where she is. She could be at McDonald's, at the movie theater, she could be six feet under by now, for all I know." I told him exasperatedly. He sighed.

"Yes...but maybe one of your friends would know?" He phrased this as a hopeful question. Jeese, this guy really wanted to find Max. What would her do with her anyways? Sure...I was mad at her, but did she really deserve whatever this Ari guy was going to do to her? "I'm not going to hurt her. It's just...well...she doesn't belong out here. She belongs in a place we call The School. It's a place where we keep mutants like her, safe from harm. And also so they don't try to take over the world." My eyes grew wide.

"She's trying to take over the world?!" I exclaimed. Sure, she liked her way, but I could hardly imagine her ruling over the world like some freakish Hitler, dictator person. He drew out his words.

"We...believe...that is her plan in the long run." was all he said.

"So...you're just trying to keep everyone safe?" His eyes lit up.

"Yes. Yes, of course. We're keeping her and the rest of them safe from being prosecuted, and everyone else safe from them. She belongs in The School, Lissa." I pondered. I mean...I really didn't want anyone to get hurt here. Maybe I could help. Just this once. It's not like they were going to do anything to them. "Lissa, you could be responsible for the fate of everyone. And besides...you saw how she acted today. Do you really want her doing that to other people? I mean...she's probably just as mean to those poor friends of hers. Angel...Nudge...FANG."

Something caught in me when he said Fang. It was one thing for her to be hurting me, but I wouldn't have her hurting the guy I loved. Er...think I loved. Whatever was missing when we kissed was probably just hype and building myself up for dissappointment. Who says it was supposed to feel magical. "So..." Ari continued. "Are you going to help me out, or..." I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, and dialed Emily's soon to be familiar number. She picked up on the first ring, as though she were waiting for someone to call.

"Hello?" she sounded frantic, her voice wrought with worry. Even her ever-present screamo music had been silenced.

"Hey, it's Lissa." I said, not taking my eyes off of Ari. He waited patiently, picking at his fingernails.

"Oh...hey." Her voice sounded considerably less emotional now that she knew it was me. This pis-sed me off, but I sighed and went on with it.

"Have you seen Max anywhere?" I asked quickly. There was a pause.

"Yeah...she just called me from her house a couple of minutes ago to tell me that you and her had a fight, and that she would still come over at four. Where are you?"

"Oh...just walking around. You know...cooling off." I told her casually.

"Well get the hell back to Max's house. You two have to make up! Maybe it will fully bond you!" I stopped what I was doing. I'd forgotten that I needed Max to get my body back. Ari tapped my shoulder.

"Hold on a second, Emily." I said, before covering the reciever. "What?" I hissed at Ari.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Unusually good hearing on my part, I guess. But...I'm sure we could figure something out at the school to get you your old body back." My eyes lit up.

"You're positive?" He nodded. I took my hand off the reciever. "Ummm, yeah, Emily. I'm sure I'll be over real soon." I said. She sighed. "So...she's at her house?" I pressed.

"Well yeah, I guess, unless she left or something."

"Kay, great...see ya." I hung up, and looked at Ari. "She's at her house." I informed him.

"Great..." He grinned, starting to walk forward. "Thanks, Lissa. You're really doing something good here."

I gulped. I sure hoped I was.

* * *

A/N: Uhoh! What's gonna happen next? Nobody knows, but me! Haha, suck it! Just kidding. Hope you liked it. Yes, Lissa's being incredibly, mind-blowingly stupid, but, what can I say? OOC much on Fang? LOL I thought so. Got to go. My mom made dinner! YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY. Review, and I will feed the hungry. Mainly meaning me, but...


	10. Guilty Spinach Omelets

A/N: Hey guys. I can't remember, but I think this might be a late update. I can't remember. Thanks to those who reviewed for this story! Sorry if I didn't respond to you. My computer wouldn't open the freakin' response box! God...it's special ed, and needs medication. Unfortunately for me...the pharmacy apparently doesn't distribute computer medicine. That sucks. So...I'm just gonna make a quick general response to all my home slices out there.

Please choose the option that applies to you and your views...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah:

Thanks! I'm glad you (liked / hated) it. Thanks for (reviewing / ruining my life). I (love / wish death upon) you. I'm trying to (update more / plot your murder) because I (love / despise) you all so much. (Thanks / Fuc-k you) again for that. I hope you (Have a nice day / Get hit by a truck). (Stay ghetto, mothers / May all your cats die painful deaths). :)

How was that? Good? Good... Okay...now onto the part where I actually write something productive. Haha...yeah right...good one...

* * *

**Chapter 10: How Do You Like Your Guilt in the Morning? Sunnyside Up, Or Poached? **

**Max's POV **

Sulk sulk sulk. Sulkity sulk sulk sulk. This is what I was doing right now, all locked up in my room like a teenager who's mother wouldn't let her go out on a Friday night. No this was worse...it would be like if that happened, and then she had algebra finals and a tetanus shot appointment the next day. Well, I'm exaggerating, of course, but still... I NEVER did this sort of thing. But the stress of the moment was really just wearing me down to the last fray of the little peanut in my brain that allowed me to think coherently.

After Lissa had left me to play Hansel and Gretle 2: Hansel ditches Gretle in the Middle of Frickin' Nowhere, I had walked the however many blocks or miles, or whatever back to Anne's house. Once I was inside, I stressed for five minutes in the bathroom, and then called Emily and told her what happened. She'd sounded on the verge of a freakout, but after cooling down, had told me to come on over anyways as soon as I was ready. Apparently, she's been doing some research on some weird voodoo concoctions for reversing spells. Great...can't wait to drink purified yak's blood with trout extracts roasted over the fire of burning cherry wood. Mmmm-mmm...I'll have to look **THAT** recipe up on the food network website.

I looked at my watch. It was nearing four o' clock now. I was about to leave when I thought of something. I'm pretty sure it would be kinda wierd if anyone just saw me (looking like Lissa) walking around our house. I pondered the window for a second, but then I saw Fang coming up the driveway. Groaning, I figured it would probably look even wierder if he saw me climbing out the window. Suddenly there was a little knock on the door. I gulped. Maybe if I was just really quiet...

"Max, open up. I know you're in there. I can hear you thinking." Angel's voice came from the other side of the door. I sighed in relief and told her in my head to come in. "Max, how come I can't hear Lissa's thoughts anymore?" She asked curiously, coming to stand in front of me as I walked away from the window. I thought for a moment before registering what she'd said.

"What do you mean you can't hear them? Like...you don't understand them, or they're just not...there?"

"They're just gone. It was like one minute, she was thinking mad thoughts about you, and then it was like she just dissappeared or something." Angel's eyes shone with worry. It was unusual for her to get worked up about not being able to hear something as long as it wasn't one of the flock.

"I don't know..." I said slowly. Had she really flown that far away? I mean...someone can't just...stop thinking. (Well, with Lissa, you're never really sure, but...) Okay Max...think possibilities. Option A: She flew out of Angel's thought radar. I'll leave that one open ended. She'd probably be too tired to fly that fast that far. Option B...she died. I cringed, as did Angel.

"I think she's still alive, because...she didn't like, have any scared thoughts before she was gone. It just stopped right in the middle of a sentence." Angel said, trying to recall any details of thought. The phone broke the tense silence with it's shrill ring. It was picked up quickly by someone downstairs. Angel's eyes lit up in surprise. "It's Lissa." Of course, five seconds later, Iggy's voice bellowed up the stairs.

"Max...Lissa's on the phone!" Angel hopped off my bed, which we'd sunken into without realizing, and went down to grab the phone for me. A minute later, the plastic device was in my hand and up to my ear.

"Hello?" I said urgently into the reciever, my voice cracking a little bit with suspense.

"Max..." Indeed, it was Lissa alright. In the flesh and sounding perfectly calm except perhaps for a hint of something I couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Lissa, where the hell are you calling from?" I hissed into the phone. "You're out of Angel's frickin' thought radar." I couldn't help the swearing, I was just pis-sed as hell. There was a small pause on her end before she spoke in that same oddly calm voice.

"Max, who's home right now?" she asked simply. I gaped. How was this at all revelent to our situation.

"I don't know! Pretty much everyone, why?" Another silence ensued. "Lissa, what's going on? Where are you?"

"Is Anne home?" I was absolutely perplexed by her fascination with who was currently chilling in the house. Did she not grasp the concept that we were in trouble if she didn't drag her bedazzled ass back to my place so we could fix this whole stupid curse thing?

"No, she's not. But what does this have to do with anything?" Even Angel looked confused. She mouthed that she still couldn't pick up on any of Lissa's thoughts. I looked at caller ID. It was an unlisted number not displayed.

"I'm sorry about this Max. But it's for your own good." The line went dead, a dull buzzing of the phone ringing in my ear. I was so confused. And suddenly, the whole house was still and silent. So still it was eerie. Angel's senses went hyperactive, and she turned at the smallest shuffle. "Angel, I think we have to get out of here." I said quietly, grabbing her small hand and backing inch by inch towards the door, never taking my eyes off of the intimidating window. I reached my hand slowly behind me, waiting to feel the chill metal of the door knob that would twist and get us out of here. But where the metal should have been, I felt the rough feeling of an outstretched arm. A furry outstretched arm that wrapped its greasy fingers around my neck. I smelled the doggy smell, and felt the fierce touch. I knew exactly who it was, making a lump catch in my throat.

"Hello, ladies. A pleasure to see you both again." Ari growled, giving my neck a hard squeeze as everything fizzed out of focus and I slipped under the curtain of darkness.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

"More eggs?" The waitress asked as I scraped the plate that had once been home to my humble spinach and cheese omlet. I had decided the omlet needed a change of scenery. Preferably, the lining of my stomach. I shook my head yes and she grabbed my empty plate to give to the man behind the counter that seemed to have an endless supply of eggs. I tapped my fingers anxiously on the booth table and waited without grace for another omlet. I was unusually impatient today.

Ari had left almost an hour ago to go "collect Max and her little friends", and told me to stay put at this little greasy spoon diner we'd found off the road. The thought of the look in his eyes when he'd said he was going for them sent shivers up my back. But then I thought back to the way she had treated me. About what Ari had said about her being a controling, psycho-maniac that was plotting to dictate the world. If there was one thing plain as day about Max, it was her love to be in control at all times. And being supreme ruler of all beings pretty much opens up all doors of opportunity in the control department.

I groaned under my breath and twisted impatiently in my seat to see if they were making any progress on my omlet. But sure enough, the guy behind the counter was flirting shamelessly with one of the waitresses, completely neglecting my omlet. Jesus Christ...all I had ordered was a spinach omlet. How long can it take to make a spinach omlet? What were they doing back there? Still growing the frickin' plants?

Suddenly the little bell on the door of the diner tinkled, announcing someone's entrance. I looked out to the other side of the restaurant and saw Ari enter through the door, looking totally civilized for once. His fangs had shrunken tremendously, and there was hardly any hair on him at all, save for a little normal looking scruff on his chin and arms. The only thing that gave away his true nature was the small rips that littered his once neat clothing. I cringed at the thought of who had made those tears. No doubt it was Max or one of the flock.

He spotted me and walked over, sliding into the booth. "Got 'um all set and ready down at the school. They were a bit...uncooperative, but we managed to get them to calm down a little eventually. Anyways...it's all good now." I nodded without saying a thing and watched as the waitress returned with my long-awaited omlet.

"Here you go." she said cheerfully, setting it down in front of me. "Anything for you, sir?" she asked Ari, poising her pen just above her paper, ready to scribble his order. But he declined, saying that we had to go soon. After she left, he leaned across the table to whisper to me.

"Thanks again, Lissa. You've been real great with helping us catch those punks." he said pointedly, grabbing a morsel of my omlet with his filthy fingers. I grimaced and pushed the half he had touched away from me.

"Not all of them are bad." I said, picking at the sanitary half. "I mean...the little blonde one's okay. And Fang is more than okay. He's actually really great." I said, almost wistfully. He snorted.

"It's all an act, Lis. You have to understand that those brats are willing to try anything to get on your good side. They want to use you for their own selfish reasons. It's in their nature." It bugged me that he'd called me by my nickname. We had hardly known eachother for more than an hour, and there he went, rolling affectionate terms off of his tongue like it meant nothing at all. I finished the side of my omlet, him grabbing the half I refused to touch. "Come on...if you want, I'll even take you on a tour of The School. You'll see how humane it is. Trust me, you don't have to worry." We wandered out of the diner, Ari tossing a twenty onto the table, and hopped in this random red truck sitting in the parking lot that Ari claimed was his. I wasn't so sure, judging by the fact that there was a picture of a man and two kids taped in the corner of the windshield with a post-it that said "I'll love you always" slapped on there by the adoring husband in the picture.

"Wow...I didn't know you were married to a man." I said slyly, pointing to the picture.

"Aw, shut your mouth." he growled, starting the car up and sluggishly riding it out of the lot.

* * *

A short time later, we pulled onto a narrow, winding road, enclosed by rows and rows of tall pines that seemed to have been planted in perfectly straight lines. The roads were spotless, though the sides of them were cluttered with branches and needles from the many trees. Seven bends in the road later, we were in front of a gray brick building surrounded by a tall, wire fence with a menacing sign warning you that it was electric, banded to the side of it. I gulped.

"Don't worry," Ari reassured me, "It's just to make sure no trouble makers escape. That would be terrible." I thought of how Max had said she'd escaped from this place before. We stopped just in front of the gate and waited for the attendant to verify us so that we could pull into the nearly full lot that encircled the large building. Once parked, we hobbled up the sidewalk, lined with dull, innocent plants, to the front doors. Two guards stood solidly in front of them. Ari flashed a strange, purple badge in his pocket to them, and then stepped forward to verify his fingerprints.

We stepped into a carpeted area that seemed almost like a waiting room of sorts. Cameras rested in every corner, catching my every move on video recording. We walked up to a woman sitting behind a lone desk. She looked normal at first glance, but if you looked closely, you would realize that her eyes changed color with every movement she registered.

"Welcome back, sir." she said almost lifelessly to Ari, her eyes going a startling shade of red. I felt my eye brows shoot up. He nodded at her and requested a visitors badge. She looked at me with now gray eyes and took my thumb print in a booklet she kept in a file cabinet. Then she snapped a quick photo of me, changing her eyes briefly to a bright orange, and then asked me some questions. All this for a little pin that I was told to stick in the upper corner of my shirt. She bade us goodbye in a strange voice, her eyes deep blue.

"She sounded like she was having fun." I whispered sarcastically as Ari swiped a pass key by some sensor, causing the doors to slide apart.

"It's a boring job." He said calmly, shrugging his shoulders and trudging onward, down a long, gray plastered hallway. Through another set of sliding doors, and I suddenly felt like I was in the children's ward of a hospital. Bright pictures were painted neatly on the walls, and calming music flowed quietly from invisible speakers. Little numbered doors lined the hallways, some barred in one hallway, and others not in the next. "Barred ones are maximum security." Ari explain, leading me past a woman wearing a lavender lab coat. Smaller children milled around in what looked like a play room. It had a giant fish tank and lots of books and games. And a tall woman in a pink coat passed out Goldfish crackers and chocolate milk.

"Wow..." was all I could manage. It was hard...no...impossible to believe that anyone would want to escape from a place like this. It seemed like some sort of heaven where women in lab coats gave you Goldfish crackers. It hardly sounded like the torturous death trap Max had described.

"Not what you expected?" Ari said knowingly, watching the kids play with their dolls and toy trains. Munching on fish shaped crackers and downing the milk like it was the source of all life and humanity as they knew it. Which, at their age, it was. "Yeah...Max has been known to stretch the truth on more than one occasion." I nodded in awe. It sure seemed like it. Some of the kids, though... Some had horns or antlers. Others had scaly skin and horse hooves. There was even one poor little boy that was completely adorable except for his huge snout. He seemed content with playing with his toy car, though, so I tried not to think too much about it.

"Where's Max and them?" I suddenly wanted to know, hardly imagining Fang in this sunshiney wonderland. Ari chuckled.

"They're in the teenage ward, wanna come see?" I nodded as he led me past the kitchen of the kids ward and to another set of doors.

* * *

**Max's POV **

"Now stay in there, and I swear, if you complain or act hurt for one moment, as soon as she leaves, I'm going to put you through all those tests again. And then make you watch your dear flock get them for the second time again. Wouldn't want to be responsible for their pain, now would you?" The door slammed shut with such a force that it shook the little table near it. I winced. After being put through unmentionable test after unmentionable test, they had locked us away in separate cells. Suddenly, they were stuffing us into these little simulator rooms behind glass walls. Random people would walk by from time to time and study me before scribbling something down in a notebook and hurrying away to go tell the good doctor some miraculous discovery they had made. I spent most of my time in the corner, my middle finger permanantly raised at anybody who stopped by for a peek.

I cringed. All the smells, and the sights, and the people. It all brought back countless memories. Twisted ones. Ones that flashed behind my eyelids. I would see a photo on the wall of an aerial view of The School, and would immediately think back to how it looked as we were escaping, soaring high over it as guards ran out of the building and after us, Jeb driving his little car with Angel and Gazzy and Nudge in the back of it, far down below. They had all been too little to really use their wings at the time. I shuddered as I spotted a framed picture of all the scientists resting on a desk that was set up in the corner.

I can't believe Lissa would do something like this to us. Just turn us right over to The School without so much as a second thought. And all because of some stupid girl-fight that didn't even seem relevant now that I actually think it over. I sighed with frustration, turning and shuffling behind the bed to stay out of the view of a scientist who had come to observe the bird-girl in "natural habitat". The habitat was hardly my place to be, if you ask me.

Lavender walls, and a dark wood floor. A canopy bed decorated with tiny pillows and purple sheets just shades darker than the walls. A little tv with heart and star stickers slapped randomly on the sides of it, rested in one corner of a low dresser strewn with bottles of nail polish and a stack of paper back novels. A mirror and vanity set was nestled in another corner, and small lamp with a shawl draped over it cast an almost blue glow over the room as it rested on a small bookshelf cluttered with novels and magazines of all sorts.

I picked one up. 'The Notebook'. Screw it. I tossed it aside, and it slid under the bed. Another one was in my hands. 'Little Women'. I threw that one under the bed. The last one I picked up had a pair of pale white arms stretched out holding an apple. I didn't even WANT to know the title of that one.

Suddenly, there was a tap on the glass. Curious, I poked my head around the corner of the bed. I felt my eyes squint down as I saw who stood there. The nerve of her to actually come here after what she had done! It made me want to spit. I stalked up to the glass and smacked it hard with both my fists, not even shaking the plexiglass with Lissa's strength.

"You bitch! How could you do this to us? What did I do to you that deserved this? I spent my childhood in this hell hole! Thanks a whole fuc-king lot for landing us back here, you cheap-ass whore!" I screamed, so consumed with anger that I didn't even realize what was coming out of my mouth. I slammed my fist against the wall that seperated us again, sure that she couldn't even hear me, because she didn't seem to realize that I was flinging profanities at her. Ari tapped on the glass again and smiled, waving. I flipped him off and stalked off to sit behind the bed again. "Yeah...fuc-k you, too." I muttered under my breath.

I sat for a few minutes, just breathing to calm myself down. How could I not have realized she was a traitor? You'd think Angel would have heard SOMETHING in her thoughts. Anything to give us a clue that she was plotting to turn us over. Then I thought back to what she'd said about not being able to hear any of Lissa's thoughts. Maybe The School had invented some weird way to block that from happening. To make it impossible for the scarce mind-readers in this world to get any reading off of anybody they didn't want them too. Damn them and their super-technology.

When I poked my head around the corner again, I saw that the pair of them had disappeared. I sighed, and glanced around this lavander shit-hole once more. This time, I spotted a microscopic camera lodged in the spine of a fairly large book with purple binding. I grabbed a hairbrush off of the dresser, and calmly retrieved the privacy-invading novel off of it's shelf.

"Sorry, boys...looks like its lights out." I said into the camera before smashing the lens with the tip of the brush. I watched as it fractured off tiny pieces of glass, exposing the black core behind it. Okay, now that the camera was off line, I figured it was about time to start formulating a plan.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

After we saw Max (who obviously wasn't very pleased with me), we set off to find the others. "Alright...this is Fang's room." Ari said, coming to a stop in front of a huge glass wall. Behind it sat a larged bed, a desk, a small tv, and a bookshelf. Everything but Fang himself. It was almost identical to Max's room except this one was designed as boy's. With blue walls and less girly furniture.

"Where is he?" I asked anxiously, pressing my forehead against the chilly glass. Ari shrugged, and then tapped a woman in a lab coat who happened to be passing by.

"Excuse me, do you know where specimen 312 is?" Ari growled at her. I cringed a little when he reffered to Fang as a "specimen". The woman looked down at her clipboard and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, specimens 311 through 316 are being...um, treated for injuries sustained during their collection. They aren't due out of first-aid until dinner hour at six." With that, she flipped her hair authoritively and stalked away through a set of swinging doors. I looked back at Fang's empty room.

It seemed like a nice enough place. I mean, sure, it was a little...restrictive, but...it was for their own good. Right? Of course it was. It was just keeping everyone safe. An odd feeling twisted in my throat. I coughed a little and ignored it.

"Guess the others were a bit more...agressive with our collectors. Don't worry, they'll be fine." Ari reassured me, smiling slightly and baring his pointy teeth. I shivered a bit.

Suddenly, a loud droning buzz echoed throughout the building. I started a little bit at the sudden noise, and looked around, waiting to see ninjas drop from the ceiling or an advanced laser system to pop out of nowhere. Instead, we were greeted with a voice over a loudspeaker.

"Attention! All scientists, board members, and affiliates are required to come immediately to the meeting room for a discussion on the situation we have with specimens 310 through 316. Thank you." The voice squaked to a dry close. Ari groaned loudly.

"Lousy board of directors. They always call meetings at the worst possible times. Hold on." He growled quietly, pulling out a pocket walkie-talkie and pressing a button. "Camille. We have a bit of a problem." He snarled into the speaker. There was a second's pause before there was a slight hiss and a woman's voice came from the other end.

"Yes, sir? What do you need?"

"I have to go to a meeting, but our...visitor can't attend, and she can't exactly wander around this place for an hour." Ari explained jauntily. There was a small sigh.

"Are you asking me to babysit, sir?" she asked. I felt my eyes narrow down. I wasn't a child. It wasn't like I was going to wander away into a strange corridor and take candy from a mutant, or something. Ari growled.

"Camille, let me put it simply. Take the girl for an hour, so I don't get fired." Another sigh hissed over the radio.

"Sure thing, sir. I'll meet you in a minute by the meeting room doors." The radio hissed off, and Ari snarled a bit more.

"Useless interns." he mumbled under his breath, leading me in the opposite direction and through a set of double doors. And then another. Many scientists and other people were abandoning their posts and walking with us to get to the meeting room. We finally reached a huge pair of blue, plastic swinging doors with the lable "Meeting Room" printed on them in black, formal lettering.

As it turns out, Camille was actually the secretary woman who had taken my information when I'd first arrived. She stood by the doors patiently, her eyes changing from a dull gray to a vibrant green when she saw us round the corner.

"I'll be out in a little bit. Just stay with Camille." Ari informed me, making me feel like a little kid on Take Your Child to Your Top Secret Science Lab Day. And with that, he pushed through the doors and disappeared. I turned to Camille. She was paying me no attention, but, instead watching the remaining people walk through the doors, her eyes and impatient shade of purple with blue rims. The last man finally pushed through the doors, and she suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, trying to yank my arm away. She continued to pull persistently, dragging me in the direction of what appeared to be an empty room. "What are you doing? Freak, let me go!" I didn't understand how she was pulling me. I should be much stronger what with Max's body and all. Then it occured to me that she was obviously a mutant, too. Her eyes changed color every five seconds, after all. Finally, she tugged me into the empty room, flicked on the lights, and locked the door. I backed away up against a wall.

She approached cautiously. "Calm down..." she whispered, eyes going a soft pink. "I'm not going to hurt you, or do anything to you." There was a brief pause. "But they will." She gestured out to the meeting room where everyone was gathered.

"What the hell are you talking about, you psycho?" I said coldly, assessing how easily I could take her out. She put her hands up in a surrendering motion.

"Please, you have to listen. This place does not take care of these people. These genetically modefied children. They create them and then they run test after test on them until they just can't take it anymore. Trust me, I would know. I was one of them." Her eyes were an urgent shade of yellow. I shook my head.

"Are you kidding me? This place has better conditions and care than kindergarden. They were serving the kids frickin' goldfish crackers! It's not exactly a prison." I said angrily. She shook her head sadly.

"It's all for show. In reality, they keep those kids locked up in dog kennels and inject them with poison just to place bets on how long they'll survive. This place has about as much compassion as a concentration camp." Her eyes were fiery red. "They're feeding you lies. What? Did they show you those cheap, prissy rooms that look like something out a barbie dream house? Yeah...a bit more comfy than the stone cells those kids really sleep in."

I could tell she was getting pis-sed with the situation. "Well, everyone seems happy enough." I contradicted, thinking back to those little kids playing with their trains. Camille gave a short laugh.

"You know..." she said, "My real name is Chameleon. That's what they called me. And then they came up with Camille as a bit of a pet name of sorts. They genetically modefied me so that not only would I have strength and speed, but I would also be able to reflect the feelings of those around me. To detect hostile behavior, mostly. But it backfired. It only showed my emotions." She pointed to her bright orange eyes.

"And, of course, they had no use for me. So they threw me in a cell and practically gouged my eyes out trying to figure out where they went wrong. Finally, they got tired of having me in the holding cells. They were running out of room. So they shoved me into a skirt and sat me behind that fuc-king desk so that I could wipe their sorry asses 24/7" She was breathing heavily.

"Those kids are told that if they don't act happy and perfect, they'll get whipped, or put in the electric chair, or be starved for a week. It's all and elaborate act designed to fool people just like you." I shook my head disbelievingly, my mind over-run with all these twisted thoughts. Confusion in who to believe. "You don't believe me?" she asked frantically. "Well, here!" She grabbed my wrist again and yanked me back through the door. "I've got proof." We banged through a couple sets of blue doors until we reached a final one. She shoved me through first. I froze.

Row after row of small, iron cages. Little dog kennels piled ontop of eachother. Syringes overflowing the trashcans, and the stale smell of urine and disinfectant reeked off of every surface. Little faces trying desperately to poke through the bars of cages. Starved, frightened faces shining behind the smooth metal. My mouth was agape as I stumbled slowly into the room. It was almost mind-boggling that a room could ever be so awful and sick. I felt like I was going to vomit, all of the sudden.

"You see?" Camille cried, gesturing at the horror surrounding us. "This is the behind the scenes look at your pretty little kindergarden fantasy. Don't exactly look excited to learn their ABC's, now do they? What? A is for acellular vaccine?" She gave a twisted, frightened laugh. I sunk to my knees by a cage to my left. A little face peeked out at me, scared and distraught. Her eyes shone with terrified tears. An unbelievable rage bubbled in the pit of my stomach. Scorched its way up my throat, and gagged me. I was absolutely, positively disgusted.

"So what do you think now?" Camille asked frantically, shuffling around the cramped room. "What do you think after seeing this..this-monstrosity." I clenched my teeth.

"I think it's time I got my friends out of here." She snorted.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" she asked.

"Why by pretending nothing has happened at all, of course."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay...I am pretty much the most RETARDED person on the planet. (Wow, I had to respell retarded, like, eight times. That's really sad.) But, I forgot to tell anybody I'd be gone for a week. Great...can't wait to read your hate mail. LOL. See ya in a little bit for the next chapter. Oh, and Max was a little bitty OOC in the beginning with her sulkity thing. Oh well. You do what you can.

**Just Rambling**: Okay I read this book. It was called Invisible Monsters and it was by Chuck something-or-another. (Can't remember his last name) And it was pretty much the most awesome book ever. It was symbolic, and funny, and tragic, and cruel, and chilling, and filled with transgenders. Its pretty much my new favorite. But...although it was superbly AMAZING, it sounds incredibly weird when you describe it. Listen to this summary.

Ahem...so there's this chick, right? Her name's Shannon. She had a brother who was gay, and apparently died of AIDS. And she was incredibly beautiful, but a real bitch. And one day, her jaw gets blown off by this gun shooting supposedly through her car window. And now she's apparently SO hideous, that no one will acknowledge her existence. (That is REALLY sad) Anyways, so she meets this other chick named Brandy at the hospital she's staying at. And Brandy takes her in and gives her these veils for her face, and they become "friends". And then they find Shannon's ex-fiance who tried to kill her and slept with her best-friend (who also you think shot Shannon's face off) and they bring him along too.

And basically, this Brandy girl is actually a transgender (minus the lady-parts as of now) and they go to all these rich peoples houses and steal estrogen pills for her. And as it turns out, Brandy is actually her "dead" gay brother, now a woman. He was taken in by these cross-dressers, and yeah...it's a long story. So they do that for a little while, and then Shannon gets mad at her friend you think shot her face off for all the stuff she's done to her, so she wants to go burn down her house and stuff. It turns out her friend is also a transgender. So they go to her wedding, it turns out her ex-fiance is gay and he's going to become a woman. Brandy gets shot, but just in her implants. (Oh no! She's boobless!) And you find out that Brandy never wanted to be a woman, and that Shannon actually shot her self in the face because she was so tired of everyone only loving her because she was beautiful.

Tadah! Sounds like a bad soap opera, but is really a piece of artwork enclosed in paper binding. LOVE IT!


	11. They Should Make a Movie Part 1

**A/N: **Hey guys...I have a confession to make. I...have been plagerizing all my stories... Haha...just kidding. As if anyone could come up with the shit I do. LOLZ. Anyways...onto the update. Hopefully no one from the government reads this and thinks I'm serious. If I get arrested, I want you guys to write me in prison. And send me escape kits disguised as muffin baskets, okay? Thankyou!

* * *

**Chapter 11: They Should Make a Movie Out of My Life Part 1**

**Max's POV **

"I don't know what she's trying to do, Dr. Henshaw, she just destroyed all of the hidden cameras." I heard a frantic voice say in the hidden hall directly leading to my glass case wonderland.

"Yes...she's acting up again. That's why I brought Lawrence and Raymond." said a woman with a Russian accent. I could hear clunking footsteps getting closer to my door. "They are going to retrieve her and take her to a seclusion room. I am going to run to the lab and grab a sedative. We have the situation under control. You may return to your posts."

I was currently hiding under the canopy bed that had been set up in the room. It was all part of my master plan. First I had destroyed all of the camera's to draw their attention and give me a bit of cover while I hid. Now all I had to do was wait for The School's little minions to come along and leave the door open, then I would take them out immediately and make a run for it. Not before getting the rest of my flock, of course.

I knew that in Lissa's body, I would never be able to take them out with physical force. So, instead, I set up a rather complicated trap that would surely render them incapable to "retrieve me". Excuse me for sounding like a science nerd. It sounds cooler when I talk like this. I sound smarter, somehow. The door suddenly banged open, and two large pairs of feet clad in black business shoes entered the room and clunked to where they were fully visible to me, under the bed.

"We know your in here, little bird girl." One owner of one of the pairs of feet said stupidly. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." I fought back a laugh as he said this in a rather sing-song voice. It not only left him sounding a bit metro, but I pictured a little girl's face on a man's body, and I was practically cracking up. I know, I know...this really wasn't the place to be acting so immature, but I had had a REALLY crappy day. Any amount of humor I can squeeze in there is okay by me.

The feet suddenly started walking forward at the same time, right into my first trap. I grinned smugly while I waited for it to take effect. Suddenly the pairs caught on something. A thin, clear colored string I had pulled from the quilt on my bed. I had tied one end to the bottom bed post, and the other to the leg of the desk. And with their weight collapsing onto that string...Well...You can guess the results.

CRASH!

The desk tipped over on it's side as the fell to the floor and landed directly ontop of them. It wasn't too bad of an impact, but it was enough to stun them. Both their faces planted into the ground, I tried to hastily squirm out of my hiding place. One of the men turned his head exactly at the wrong moment and saw me. I froze for a minute.

"You!" he shouted, trying to push the desk off of him and his buddy. I tried more desperately than ever to get out. And I did so fairly quickly, but he also managed to climb off the floor just as fast. And he immediately charged, his friend still pulling himself up. I dodged out to the way, and slammed loudly into the wall of the room. I was a little shaken, but seeing him switch directions and come at me again, sent me running fast enough. I quickly grabbed a lamp that was on the bedside bookshelf, and smashed it across the side of his face as soon as he was close enough. I quickly backed out of the corner he had pressed me into.

But suddenly, his friend was behind me, wrapping his big, muscualr arms around me and pulling me backwards. "Ugh!" I screeched, struggling to break loose. "You don't EVER...touch a lady!" And I backed him up into the sharp corner of my bed, making him hit in a particularily sensitve area. He keeled over backwards onto the bed, and released me. I rolled off him and hit the floor with a dull thud. It knocked the breath right out of my lungs, and I nearly choked on the air that shot up my throat.

The other one was recovered from the cheek bashing incident, and was now stooping to pick me up off the floor. I swung my foot back in an act of desperation, and made contact with his face, crushing his nose into a bloody mess. He winced, and tumbled backwards onto the floor, his eyes tearing up. It must have made it hard to see, because he was reaching aimlessly in the opposite direction. I started to crawl away so that I could have more room to get up, but I felt a hand wrap swiftly around my ankle.

The guy who I had kicked in the nose had managed to locate at least a part of me, and was now hanging on with no mercy as he wiped blood and tears roughly off of his face. I thrashed wildly, hoping to make contact with his face again, but I couldn't seem to get near anything painfull. The other one was still rolling around on the bed in agony, clutching his crotch. I finally grabbed hold of a book I spotted sticking out from under the bed, and quickly turned and chucked it at my attacker's head. As it flew, I caught sight of the title. Huh...who knew? Twilight was good for something after all.

A corner of it caught his eye, and he yelled in pain, loosening his grip on my ankle so that I lashed out and kicked him in the side of the head as well. Then I scrambled up, and shoved his buddy off of the bed, which wasn't hard, as he was rolling from side to side. He landed on one of the upturned legs of the desk, and his eyes rolled back into his head with pain. I cringed, and turned to run from the room.

"What the hell is going on here?" A voice cried from the doorway. The Russian woman that had been instructing everyone in the hall was standing there, looking on in horror. She held a syringe filled with pale orange liquid. I launched forward, grabbed her wrist, and twisted her arm around so that she had poked herself with the needle in the chest. She shrieked, but I quickly shoved the extended part down, and every last drop of liquid was now coursing through her veins. Her hands came around my neck, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. But she soon fell limp and collapsed to the floor, the syringe still stuck in her chest.

I jumped over her body and looked down the deserted hallway. Left or right? I heard footsteps coming from the right, and figured I had no other choice, so I shot off to the left. This hallway was pure white with harsh lighting and blue tiled floors that allowed your footsteps to echo off of them. The doors that were settled comfortably into the walls were shut tight, most of them with their lights switched off.

I raced past them, looking around nervously for any branching hallways I could escape to if anyone decided to detour down this one. Suddenly, a door to my left opened, and a group of scientists clamoured into the hallway. I froze for a fraction of a second, and then heard more footsteps behind me.

"Yeah, she went this way!" I heard a familiar voice call out. It belonged to one of the men I had beat up back there. The group of scientists from the room, turned around in confusion. I was cornered! In an act of desperation, I dashed into the nearest room and shut the door. Hunting around in the dark, I stumbled into a chair and looked at the ceiling, praying to God that this room would have what I needed.

Hallelujia! It did! I slid the chair over to a corner and jumped up on it, wrenching the cap of a shiny silver air vent off, and setting it quietly on the floor.

"Where'd she go?" I heard a voice outside the door, and saw a menacing figure through the shuttered window. I quickly pulled myself through and up into the small vent. It was just big enough for me to squeeze through. I wriggled as fast as possible away from the opening, as I heard the door to the room I had just left bang open. Turning around breifly, I saw a man's head pop into where I was. "There she is! She's getting away!" I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him as he tried to squeeze his shoulders through the opening. I knew there was no way this vent would ever accomodate a man of his size, so I caught my breath for a moment before moving on as fast as I could.

I could hear him calling out to the others to sound the alarm as I dissappeared around the corner to try to find my way out.

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I stood impatiently outside of the room that all of the scientists were congregating in, Camille standing by my side, twisting her head in all directions. I was tempted to put my face up to the small window in the door, just out of curiosity, but I knew better than that. "What are they doing in there?" I grumbled, craning my neck to just take a peek.

A woman had left the room in a hurry with two men about fifteen minutes ago. Some Russian woman they kept calling Dr. Henshaw. Camille shrugged at my earlier question.

"Who knows...They're probably plotting all of your guys's deaths." she said darkly, seeming uninterested in much else than the hallway floors. "Aren't you going to formulate a plan or something?" she asked suddenly, turning to face me with lime green eyes. "I mean...you can't just fly into their cells and rescue them. You've got to have something lined up, or you'll be locked up, yourself. And you won't be much good to anybody behind bars."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Camille." I said sarcastically. "And, as a matter of fact, I DO have a plan. I just have to wait until they get out to put it into action." I lied, turning my face from her in case I had a guilty face.

"Oh? Mind clueing me in on it? I'm your accomplice, after all." I rolled my eyes. Why she was still hanging around, I had no idea. But she was beginning to get kind of annoying.

"Ugh...fine. Er...If you wanna help me, then get me into that room so I can hear what they're talking about." She looked a bit confused when I said this, as I had told her before that my plan couldn't proceed until they were OUT of the room I now wanted in to. She looked around, before leaning in close to me.

"Well, alright. There's kind of a secret passageway in this wall. It wasn't supposed to be there, so no one really knows about it. It was a construction mistake. So they simply boarded it up. But the board is kind of thinner than the other wall, so you can hear through it really well. It's right over here." She walked over to a small section of wall that DID look a bit different from the surrounding wall now that she mentioned it. Just a slightly paler white than everything else. She pulled a nail file out of her pocket, and inserted it into a tiny crack, pulling back to create a small door.

"Me and a few of the other mutants they set up around here for desk jobs used to use this all the time to listen in on the meetings. We were never allowed into them. Came in usefull for knowing which one of us the were gonna cut open next." I shuddered. She ushered me into the small space. "I'm gonna shut this, and if they come out, I'm going to tell them I had one of the guards escort you to the bathroom. Okay?" I nodded, and she slid the door shut, leaving me in the dark.

I crawled over to the opposite wall and pressed my ear against it gently, careful not to make any noise.

"-no use for them anymore. We might as well just destroy them. They cause too much trouble." I heard an urgent voice say. It sounded unfamiliar. "I mean, look what Dr. Henshaw had to leave for. That Max one was acting up again. Their just not worth it."

"I know, I know..." Ari growled. "But, what about that Lissa girl? She's got Max's body. Max is useless trapped in her body. It's Lissa who has all the power. And she's on our side."

"So, are you saying we should just keep her?" said a woman's voice. It was a little quieter than the others, so she must have been sitting farther away from the wall than the others. "Destroy the others, but keep the girl? She could prove usefull. With that much power on our side, we could accomplish so much more."

"Mary-Sue, we have no idea when their expiration date will be. And this Lissa girl...She has no idea how powerfull she is. She'd be just as useless in battle. She may be strong, but the other one has had years of training. She would be killed." said a man with an Asian accent. There seemed to be a great variety of people in the room. Another growl came from Ari.

"Dr. Ying is right. We have no choice. We have absolutely no way to switch them back to their original bodies. They are proving to be more trouble than they are worth. We're better off just destroying all of them. The other girl included." I gasped. They were planning on destroying me? Why the hell do they need to destroy ME? I've never done anything to them. In fact, I help them capture Max.

Max's face suddenly flashed in my mind, and I imagined her locked in a damp cell somewhere with nowhere to go. Oh god, what had I done? Why had I turned her over? It was so stupid. They couldn't even get us back to our original bodies. I had wasted so much time. And I'm sure me turning her over to an evil science research facility didn't help much with the whole bonding aspect of the plan. I had no watch on. We could have only hours left to reverse it! I felt my eyes tearing up. I had ruined everything hadn't I? I wrapped my arms around my knees and placed my head against the wall.

BANG! My head shot up. It sounded like the door to the conference room had slammed open. I tried to supress my tears long enough to hear what was going on. "Argh, what is it now?" Ari growled menacingly. I heard the scraping sound of several chairs sliding away from the table. Obviously, alot of people were standing up.

"It's one of the specimens, sir. The red-headed one! She's escaped!" said a frantic voice. It cracked on every stressed syllable. There was a moment of silence.

"What!" Ari roared. There was a loud crashing noise as something smashed to the floor. "Well, go find her, you idiot! If you let her get away, I swear I'll have your head!"

"Y-Yes, sir..." said the nervous voice, followed by the sound of scurrying footsteps. There was the sound of chairs scraping again. More people were rising to their feet.

"Alright, you two...alert all guards in the area and tell them to pass on the message. You, sound the alarms." Ari began to instruct. "And someone set the systems in lockdown. I want every known entrance and exit shut tight. She's not getting out this time." I pulled my head back. Oh my god! She'd escaped already? I heard footsteps running past my little hiding place.

And they were sealing off all of the exits. I had to warn her before she got caught, or worse. I waited until the hallway was silent, and then I opened the hidden door just a crack. My eyes went wide. Ari had Camille by her shoulders. He was shaking her fiercely. "How could you let her run off with a guard? I gave you specific instructions to stay by her side until the meeting was through!" He slammed her agains the door to the meeting room. She groaned in pain and her eyes flashed a deep black before fading out to an angry red glow. He slapped her across the face before releasing her. "Find her. She's important." And he stalked off down the hall.

I couldn't believe he had been planning this from the very start. So they were just gonna kill me no matter what? Happy freaking surprise. I slid the door open and hopped out quickly when the hallway was empty. Camille had sunk down to the floor where she sat, rubbing her neck. Her light blue eyes caught mine. "What's going on?" she asked. "I caught the part that your friend escaped, but isn't that a good thing?" I shook my head and helped her quickly to her feet.

"No...they're sealing all the exits. And Max is trapped in my body, she can't exactly fight. I'm not really that strong." I told her. Her eyes went wide.

"Wait...what do you mean, she's in YOUR body? You two switched bodies?" I nodded, and told her there was no time to explain. She shook her head. "Pretty Freaky Friday, if you ask me. But I have defintely seen wierder." An alarm suddenly blared through the building and bright red lights were suddenly flashing on every surface. I felt trapped in a spy movie.

"Listen, you have to help me! I need to find my friend and warn her that they're sealing the exits!" I yelled over the alarm. Camille nodded and looked around the empty hall.

"Listen!" she yelled, "I'll go see if I can stall the guy in the control room so that he won't lock down anything yet. I don't know how long I can keep him from doing that, but I'll go as long as I can!" I nodded.

"And I'll go find Max!" We both bid eachother good luck and then set off in opposite directions. I flew past door after door. Looked around every corner. I ran through countless hallways, up two flights of stairs, down another, and ducked into a desserted room when two scientists were coming hurriedly through a set of double doors at the end of the hallway I was currently racing through. I waited for them to pass, and then dove out of the room and continued to run.

Think, Lissa, think. If you were on the run from the government, where would you hide? An idea suddenly occured to me. Of course! She'd obviously be after the rest of the flock. No doubt she was trying to find wherever they were holding them. I wish they had maps of this place. I took a sharp left into a branching hallway and started to peek through door windows, looking for anything that resembled a holding chamber. Suddenly, there was a series of bumps and bangs from above me.

I looked up at the ceiling. Nothing was there, but something was rattling and banging around. A bit of dust fell on my nose. "What the-" I said out loud. It all happened so fast. The ceiling just caved in, in a shower of dust and plaster, and something hard and warm fell ontop of me. A flash of red whizzed past my eyes. I groaned. What now?

When I opened my eyes, I saw me lying ontop of me. I did a double take. "Max?" I exclaimed. She looked up at me and barred her teeth. She jumped up, and looked like she was about to hit me. Suddenly, there was voices coming down our hallway.

"Yeah...I don't know what that noise was. Let's go check it out." Max grabbed me and shoved me into the nearest room, following and locking the door in one swift motion. She sunk to the floor.

"What-" I started, but she placed a dusty hand over my mouth. The scientists must have caught sight of the mess, because one of them exclaimed:

"Holy shit! She must've been in the vents! We have to go tell someone." And they raced off. I bit Max's hand and she immediately released her hold on my jaw.

"How did you get out?" I asked her. She glared angrily at me, and for a moment, said nothing. "Max?" I prompted. Suddenly, I had her fist slamming into my eye. I fell backwards. She was rubbing her fist and looking at me in disgust as I crumpled.

"You traitor. I hope that hurts. Burn in hell." she said angrily, getting up to turn and leave.

"Max, wait!" I called out, my hand covering my throbbing eye. "Max, you have to listen. They're sealing off all of the entrances. You have to hide until I can figure something out for you. I can get you out but you have to listen to me." She snorted, and started to open the door. "Wait! There's a little crawl space near the conference room. Just look for a section of the wall that's a little whiter than the others. You can pry it open with something like a nail file. Or...here...take this paper clip!"

I tossed her the small, silver object from my pocket. She caught it in surprise. "You and the flock can hide in there, and I can snoop around to try to find a safe exit for all of you." She started to laugh.

"And I should believe you, why?" she asked. I opened my mouth to respond, but stopped. I couldn't really think of anything reasonable. "Exactly...you are nothing but a two-timing little bitch. I hope your happy with all the trouble you caused."

"Max...you're right." I couldn't believe I was saying this. I will defintely have to scrub my mouth out with soap when I get home. Gulp...**IF** I get home. "You have no reason to trust me. It could be all a big trap, for all you know. I could be lying to you again and betraying any...friendship we have left." She spat at my feet. I ignored her. "Or...I could be trying to help you. I'm sorry. And I know you don't forgive me, because you're too stubborn, but...It's the thought that counts, right?"

There was a moment where I thought she was going to cave into my idea for a moment, but I should know Max better than that. She laughed bitterly. "Yeah...see ya in 2012, bitch." she said coldly before exiting the room and running off down the hall.

Oh crap...There was no way she would ever make it out alive. She would get caught, and everyone would be killed. She may be cold and bitter, but I owed her something. I owed her big time. I watched her round the corner, wondering if that would be the last time I would see her.

* * *

**Max's POV **

As I dashed around the corner, leaving Lissa in the dust, I pondered what she had said. She was ridiculous to think that I would ever trust her again. We get in one LITTLE fight and she turns around and hands me over to The School. Well, there was no way I was falling for her stupid act again. Little crawl space in the wall of the conference room? Yeah right. They were probably all waiting there for us. And even if there WAS a crawl space, it was probably set to lock us in or it was filled with bombs or laughing gas or something.

I looked up and down the hallway. "Forget about her..." I muttered to myself. I had more important people to get ahold of. I was looking for anywhere they would be keeping the flock. I sighed when I heard footsteps coming down the halls again. Up in the vents was so much safer because you didn't exactly have to worry about somebody taking a stroll in a vent systems, now did you? Of course...I had felt like I was about to vomit the whole time I was up there. It was nastily claustrophobic.

I ducked into another room. You'd think someone would think to check these, but no... I rolled my eyes. Things hadn't changed much here. They were just as stupid as ever.

"Yeah, she was in the vents, sir." said a little squeaky voice. I heard a growl and felt a chill run up and down my spine.

"Well, she obviously isn't any more. Check all the rooms. She's probably hiding in one of them." Ari was out there instructing whoever it was he was talking to. I felt a pool of venom forming in the back of my throat. But, then there was the sound of doors opening and closing. I gulped. How many more before they reached me? I looked around, but this room, for some reason, did not have vent access. Lucky me.

I wondered why this one wouldn't. Why would they want one room to have no air conditioning? Then I saw the bulletin board tacked up on the wall. It had all sorts of charts and statistics on it. Things like Specimen 235 were tacked up there, with a little information and a check list regarding each specimen. I spotted one that particularily caught my eye. Specimen 314.

**Blonde hair, blue eyes, small build.  
Power(s):** _Ability to read minds and breath underwater._  
**Status:** _Maximum Security  
_

After that was a small check list of things to do. There could only be one person with that description. Angel. Then I spotted another door to the side of me. It was labled clearly in heavy, black print. **Maximum Security**. There was a small hand print assesor next to it. It glowed green. I walked over and tapped it, praying that it wouldn't trigger an alarm.

"Please place your right hand onto sensor for varification." A robotic woman's voice commanded. My eyes went wide. Ummm... The door to the room I was in burst open.

"There you are. Now hold still, this won't hurt much if you cooperate." A short, bald scientist entered the room holding a syringe filled with pale orange liquid. From my earlier encounter, I had learned that pale orange liquid in a syringe meant sedative. He came at me head on. I dodged, of course, and bumped into a small table that held coffee supplies. They scattered to the floor with the force of my blow. I was just grabbing a coffee pot to use as a bludgenoning tool, when he grabbed my wrist. I tried to fight, but he spun me around and jubbed the needle into my upper shoulder.

I felt warmth and a numbing sensation stemming from the injection point. "That's it...good girl..." The man muttered calmly. I felt a bit woozy, and everything was just a tad fuzzy. With the last ounce of my strength, I brought the coffee pot down hard on his head. He quivered, and released my arm. As he swayed, I sort of steered him over to the hand print pad, and jammed his hand onto it. It scanned for a moment, and then said:

"Thankyou. You may now enter." The man collapsed and fell to the floor. Ari must have gone off somewhere to look for me, because he wasn't coming. I spotted a small ring of keys on his belt loop, and grabbed them. The doors slid open. I crawled on my hands and knees into Maximum Security. Tons of cells lined the long hallway. I dragged myself forward, fighting the drugs. Suddenly, I heard a voice.

"Hello!" It was Iggy. I wanted to tell him that it was Max, but my whole body was numb. Iggy came to the bars of the cell. "Who is it, what are you doing here?" I shoved the lump of keys to him, and layed down, everything getting kind of fuzzy. I couldn't seem to move my body anymore. I couldn't even turn my head. All I saw was Iggy's feet and some bars. "I don't believe it!" he exclaimed, making contact with my hand. "Lissa?" I tried to shake my head. "For a moment, you sounded like you walked like Max." I almost laughed.

There was the jingle of keys in a lock, and then the bars were moving. I was being lifted off of the ground. "What happened to you?" he said aloud.

"Angel..." I muttered, sounding drunk. I could feel him nodding.

"Yeah...everyone's kinda spread out. Hold on, I'll find everyone. They took Max somewhere." He started walking. Yeah...they did take Max somewhere, but now she's back. Right here. I heard a little voice.

"Iggy!" It was Angel. I grinned in joy, going a little slack-jawed. "Max!" she also yelled. Iggy set me down to unlock the cell.

"What are you talking about, Ang? This is Lissa." he said, sliding the gate open. She raced out and hugged me.

"Ooops, yeah that's what I meant." she covered, winking at me. She knew what was going on. She read it from my mind. She shook her head, and kissed my forehead. Then Iggy shooed her away, picked me back up, and set off to unlock the others. Finally, we had everyone but Fang. The whole gang trailing behind Iggy, who was carrying me. I wanted desperately to hug them all and tell them what was going on, but my body wouldn't allow me to.

Eventually, we reached the end of the hall. "Shit, where's Fang?" Iggy said impatiently.

"Right here." said a dark voice behind us. Iggy spun around, making my head flop to the side. I could see Fang standing in front of me, looking tall in proud, right in the middle of the hall.

"How'd you get out?" Gazzy said incredulously. Fang shrugged and walked forward, not answering the question. He bent down to my level.

"Where's Max?" he said slowly. I looked up into his chocolate brown eyes. I couldn't talk much, but I managed to grumble one word out.

"Me..." was all I said. He looked confused, and mouthed the word. Then he caught sight of my eyes. It took a second to sink in. "Max...me..." I tried again.

"But how?" he breathed, looking slighly stunned, but you could only tell from his eyes. I tried to shake my head, to tell him there wasn't time, but he didn't get it.

"She said there's not time..." Angel translated for me. "She'll explain later, but we have to get out." Fang groaned.

"There are guards at every exit. They're all sealed." he said angrily, thinking. His head perked up. "There's people coming. They're a bit away, but they'll be here soon. We have to get out now. There's alot of them." I sighed heavily. Angel looked at me.

"Hold on..." she said quickly. I sighed again, I couldn't believe it had come to this. "She says there's somewhere we can go."

* * *

**Lissa's POV **

I was huddled in the same room Max had left me in almost twenty minutes ago. I had given up. What was there to do? She would be caught, locked up, and they would eventually find me and lock me up too. I was just sitting in the dark, stroking the skin around my eye where Max had punched me. It had gone all puffy. Thankfully, since there was no light, I couldn't see what color it was by now.

I looked at the locks of blonde hair that sat on my shoulders. I was in a body that didn't belong to me, and I had spent two whole days trying to get my rightfull one back. We were chased by crazed dog people, me and Max got in a fight, I turned her in, and now I awaited my immenent doom. Today had been one of the worst days I have ever experienced and it would most likely be my last. They would kill me and it would be all over.

No more school, no more friends, no more anything. What would my mom say. Oh yeah...she probably wouldn't say anything. I felt a tear slip out of the corner of my eye. Everything was ruined. I started to sob. Maybe it wasn't Max that always messed things up for me. Maybe it was just me screwing myself over. I guessed I just needed someone to blame other than myself. Well...look where that landed me. On death row. I sat crying for a moment.

And then I remembered...If there was one thing I had learned in my days in this body, it was that you had to be tough. You had to be strong in a messed up world like this, or it would eat you alive. All the things I've had to overcome with my Mom...I couldn't run away from HER anymore. I WOULDN'T. So why should I run away from this? It was just another obstacle. I had flown, I had beaten up creepy wolf-men, I had (almost) successfully befriended the raging shrew herself. And by raging shrew, I mean Max, of course.

I wiped my eyes fiercly and stood up. "You have to fight for what you want..." I said through gritted teeth. Now I could see why Max had made it this far already. She had never given up, and she HAD fought for what she thought she deserved. I think...I think I MIGHT have found something I respect about her. Even if she is a stubborn, absent-minded, little bitch the rest of the time. I slid open the door with pride and strode casually into the hallway.

After I walked for a little bit, a scientist came around the corner and spotted me. Before he even said a word, I walked calmly up to him and smashed his head against the wall. He dropped like a brick. These scientists may be smart, but they were wimps. As I was rounding the corner, I bumped right into someone. "There you are!" Camille exclaimed when she saw me. "Did you find your friend? I stalled for as long as possible, but I guess he put the systems in lock down." I nodded.

"Yeah, I found her, but she wouldn't believe me when I told her she needed to hide." I said forlornly. She looked at me.

"Well...that's what you get when you betray a friend. You sometimes lose more than trust." I rolled my eyes. She was getting annoying, even if she was helping majorly. Scientists past in another hall, but we could still hear what they were saying.

"Yeah, I heard now all of the specimens in that group escaped. It's total chaos. No one can find them anywhere. I'm beginning to doubt that they're even still in the building, but I don't know how they would've gotten out with systems on lockdown." said one.

"Hey...do you think anyone knows about that exit to the roof we found in the bathroom? The one where you lift that board in the ceiling and then you get to that ladder that goes up to the roof?" said another. Their voices soon faded. I looked at Camille.

"Sounds like your friends are loose." she said quietly, her eyes a shimmery gold. I shook my head... How could they not find them anywhere? I was sure she would be caught. Then something occured to me.

"Yeah...and I think I know where we might be able to find them. Come on." I grabbed Camille's arm, and prayed that they were where I thought they were. I had some friends to rescue.

* * *

**A/N**: Long chapter, so I'm dividing it into two parts. Enjoy what I have so far, and review. Nothing much to talk about really. Not very many people reading my stuff anymore. :( Too bad.


	12. They Should Make a Movie Part 2

**A/N:** Hey. Not had much going on lately. It's kinda nice. More time to update on here. LOL, that's really pathetic. Anywho...been listening to this awesome thing called, like... It's a website, and it's like...IDK it's hard to describe. It's like a million different personalized radio stations, I guess? There's one for like... "If you like this band, listen to this radio, because it has songs on it like them" ya know? It's cool. I have to admit, I'm stuck on the one for MCR. I know, I know...I'm hopelessly obsessed. Whatever. Stupid site won't let me put a link, dammit!

Okay...this is for someone I have been communicating with. Shayna-18. Okay...regaurding your email, I love it so far. I can defintely work something out with this. Nice sturdy story line. And I will gladly leave all of that untouched, because that's what you want to keep the same, right? Kay...Umm...just clarifications next, I guess. Numero uno...they're all human in this right? I think that's right, but just want to make sure. Numero dos, does this story have a title already, or is it just something I can come up with. Okay...I will, of course, make it known that you came up with the storyline. I'm usually very good at giving the credit to others and putting disclaimers and things. Also, can't wait for the rest of the storyline. Will finish this story and my other one before I start that. Thank you!

* * *

**Chapter 12: They Should Make a Movie Out of My Life Part 2**

**Lissa's POV **

I pushed wildly through a set of blue, plastic double doors, causing them to bang against the wall as I forced them fiercly open. Camille trailed closely behind, an urgent expression on her face and her eyes flashing from black to orange as her feet pounded against the floor, echoing my own thumping footsteps. I skidded quickly around a corner, not entirely sure where I was going. I turned around while still speeding down the hallway and yelled to Camille: "Which way to the conference room?" I wasn't too concerned about keeping quiet anymore. I could take any of these stupid scientists out in a heartbeat.

"You just keep going down this hallway, turn left and then-" she cut herself short, her eyes going wide. I felt sheer puzzlement course through me for a moment before I slammed into something that had been in front of me this whole time, unnoticed because I had my attention fixed on Camille.

"Why, Lissa, I'm so grateful to have found you. I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you." I dragged my eyes slowly upward to find the face that belonged to the body clad in black standing in front of me. Ari towered over me, his face scruffy and wolf-like again, his fangs already starting to grow in. I gulped. Scientists? No problem. Large scary wolf men? I'm not exactly experienced...AT ALL. Ari growled lowly and cracked his knuckles. "Okay...we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Meaning...either you surrender and come with me, or I beat you to a pulp first and then you come with me? It's up to you."

I looked back at Camille. She, too, was standing, terrified, right behind me. I had no time for a fight. I had to find Max, and soon before someone else did. I hadn't made it this far just to give up, but it didn't look like there was much hope for me. But still...there was no way I was going down without a fight. "Bring it on you big, mangy mutt." I said, putting my fists up, ready to punch, kick, claw and smack anything that came within a five feet radius of me. He laughed as I braced myself in a fighting stance. I tried to remain steady, and not shake, even though I felt slightly like I was going to pee my pants.

He grinned, and snapped a hand out abruptly, flying straight towards my head. I threw my arms up, and squinched my eyes closed, waiting for a hard blow to strike me. But it never came. I backed up and opened my eyes, stunned at what I saw. Camille had jumped ontop of him from behind, and was now beating him mercilessly, her eyes a fiery orangish-red. Ari howled as she dug her fingernails into his eye area. He finally grabbed onto her thin forearms, and threw her off of him.

She banged against the floor with a high pitched yelp. Ari clutched at his eye as she lay there, immobile for a moment. It was red and starting to swell, with scratch marks surrounding it. He growled furociously. Camille rolled to me with a desperate look on her face. "Run, Lissa! Go find her, and I'll hold him off as long as I can!" she cried, fighting to get up. Ari grabbed her arm angrily, and wrenched her upward, preparing to take a hard swing at her head. She cut him off abruptly by launching a quick kick to his crotch.

I didn't stick around to see what happened next, instead I bolted off down the hallway. Okay...she said go left, I thought back to the directions Camille had been giving to me. I skidded around the corner to the left, and looked around the hallway. This area didn't look familiar. I shrugged in exasperation, and started darting towards the end of the hallway. I turned to the left again, and came to a stop. The conference room was right in front of me. But, unfortunately, so were two burly looking guards making their rounds.

"Hey! That's one of um!" A large, blonde one cried, pointing at me. The guy he was with raised a taser and clicked it at me. I waited for searing pain to shoot through me, but nothing happened. I looked at them in confusion. The guy looked stunned, and pressed the button again. "Why isn't it working?" the blonde one said, turning to his friend. The other one shrugged and pointed the tasar at him, and pressed the button. The blonde immediately dropped to the floor and started to twitch violently, his mouth and eyes blasted open in horror. The other shrugged.

"Don't know why it doesn't work on her." he looked down at the taser and started examining it again, completely forgetting about the mutant standing in front of him. I rolled my eyes , walked over, and grabbed the taser from him. I then used it to smash it over the top of his head, and he too lay sprawled out on the floor.

"Idiots..." I muttered under my breath. Then I turned to the area in the wall Camille had shown me earlier. I took a deep breath. "Oh, PLEASE be here. Please tell me you're not completely stupid." I walked over to the section of wall, sighed, and dug my fingernails into the crack that would open it. I wrenched violently, and it ripped completely from the wall. "Woops..." I said, staring at the large white board I clutched in my hands before tossing is away. I looked back at the crawl space.

Sitting there, were six frightened faces and a small dog, all crammed into the small space. My own rightfull body was sprawled across Iggys lap. Okay...who left MY precious body in the care of the BLIND kid? They all looked at me, completely stunned.

"Max?" a little, blonde boy said, jumping up. I placed a finger to my lips to shush him.

"Quiet...there's no time for hellos. We have to get out of here now. Everyone here? Good...follow me, and stay close." I beckoned them out of the crawl space. Iggy picked up Max gingerly, and the rest of them all clamored out. As Iggy passed, Max grabbed my arm.

"Thank you..." she said, looking fully sincere. I was a bit shocked for a moment, before I found myself smiling slightly.

"You're welcome. Now come on...we have to go." And I ran up to the front of the group, and we all started running towards the bathrooms, only hoping that we would get there in time.

* * *

**Max's POV **

We slammed through the bathroom doors, my limp body still being supported by Iggy. I found, now, that I could move my limbs if I tried. I could kick my legs just a bit, and my arms if I really concentrated. And now I could turn my head freely to see what was going on, now that my vision wasn't hazy anymore. I will never be able to describe the elation that I felt knowing that we would be able to get out of here alive. I had been so happy, I had actually THANKED Lissa. She may be a scheming little biyotch at times, but I guess she did end up coming through in the end.

As soon as we were surrounded by the tiled walls of the bathroom, Lissa started looking curiously at the ceiling. She rushed around urgently, her eyes cast above her. It got to the point where I actually wasn't sure if she was still sane, or if she had gone mad. But she finally stopped, and, backing up a bit, jumped up to the plaster boards and punched through one of them, revealing the black chasm above.

"In here...Just climb through this hole and go through the rafters until you find a ladder. This'll get you to the roof." I was a bit awed. When had Lissa become such a leader? "Iggy and Fang, you take the little kids and get out of here, fast. I've got Max...er...Lissa." Uh oh...I'm not sure anyone would be to happy with that request. Fang moved forward to protest.

"Hey, we're staying right here until-" she cut him off in mid-sentence, flinging her hand up in front of his face. I saw his eyes go wide for just a second, before he calmed himself.

"Fang, **DO NOT** mess with me right now." she said pointedly, snapping her fingers together at the end for added spicyness. He backed up ever so slightly in confusion, and then sighed, turning to herd everyone up the hole.

"Alright, everyone up! Angel, you first." Iggy started directing people a bit. Fang gave Angel a boost up through the hole, and soon, everyone was up there but me and Lissa. She yelled up to the hole that everyone should start heading to the exit as fast as possible and that we'd meet them on the roof. We heard the sounds of something creaking and then some sort of door banging shut. They must have made it to the roof. I sighed in relief. My flock was safe, and that was all that mattered to me.

Lissa suddenly turned to me. "Max, I am SO sorry for turning you in like that. I really didn't mean for it to go that far, it's just Ari found me and he made it sound so-"

"Okay, Lissa...I forgive you and all, but we REALLY don't have time for this right now." I interrupted her, laughing a bit. She nodded, and helped me to my feet from where Iggy had set me gently on the floor. I stood on shaky legs, leaning on Lissa as she walked slowly over to the opening in the ceiling.

"Alright...I just need you to stand still right here for a moment. I'm going to climb up there and then I'll pull you up, okay? Just stand here." I rolled my eyes. She was treating me like a five-year-old. I guess I just wasn't used to having someone tell ME what to do. Usually, I was the one telling OTHER PEOPLE what to do. But...I could hardly move at the moment, so...I guess I'll just have to suck it up. Lissa climbed up into the hole, and then reached her hand down to pull me up. I was a little wobbly, but I grabbed onto it.

She groaned at my weight, and started to pull up. I was just lifted off the ground, and THIS close to being through the hole and to safety, when I felt a scratchy, calloused hand wrap around my ankle. I gulped. I had been a fool to think nothing would go wrong from here. The hand tugged so fiercly, that not only did I smash down onto the floor, but a large piece of the cieling came down with me. I was showered with debris, and Lissa had been knocked off balance and tumbled into a heap on the ground.

A low, growling laugh filled and echoed through the bathroom. When the dust from the ceiling cleared up, we could see Ari standing proudly in front of us, his foot perched Captain-Morgan-Style on a pile of discarded ceiling. "Well, well...if it isn't bird girl and her little side-kick. This is the part where I would probably think up some bizzarre trap to capture you in, but I just didn't find the time. So...I'll settle for grinding you into a fine pulp, instead." Lissa was still in a daze, shaking herself off and trying to stand. I'm not even sure she heard his threats.

I wriggled out from under a large plaster board and tried to stand up. I climbed to my feet with one shaky leg at a time and raised my fists in a fighting stance. He looked at me and gave a short, sharp laugh. "Are you going to fight me, Maxy? What...we gonna have a little cat fight?" he teased in a high pitched voice.

"You bastard." I said through gritted teeth. "Can't you ever just let us alone." I swung out at him, woozy and not entirely steady, but hard enough that it would stun him for a moment. But he was too fast. He grabbed my wrist and, smirking at me, flung me round and into the corner of a bathroom stall. My side slammed into it and I heard a sickening crack, feeling a searing pain jolt through my chest. I sunk to the floor, in a heap, fighting the pain and trying to make my legs work sufficiently.

Lissa started to square off with him too. She threw a quick punch towards his nose which he deflected, giving her time to give a square kick in the shins. He groaned, but quickly grabbed her shoulder fiercly and shoved her backwards into the sink. She clenched her teeth and pulled forward from the wall, wrenching the faucet out of it's hold and brandishing it menacingly. He tried to grab it out of her hands as she took a swing, but she swerved, and threw it around his neck, pulling forward and forcing him to slam his face into a sink corner.

A spray of blood hit the floor as his jaw made contact with the faux marble. He groaned and whipped around, wiping his mouth quickly clean of blood and tossing the faucet to the side where it clattered against the wall. I saw Lissa's eyes go wide as he came at her again over the pile of rubble. As they fought it out in a sort of hand to hand combat, I crawled towards his legs and grabbed onto his ankles, trying to trip him up. When it didn't work, I sank my teeth into the back of his calf.

He howled and kicked me off of him, making me smash against the tiled wall this time. I spat on the floor and tried to clear my throbbing head. "Yuck...tastes like dog..." I muttered, my face screwed up in disgust. Meanwhile, Ari grabbed Lissa's wrist and spun her arm around her back, lifting it up into a position so awkward it could break her arm if he moved far enough forward.

"Ready to give up?" he growled in her ear, pushing on her bent arm. She winced in pain.

"You wish." She hissed, before kicking back and making contact with his crotch. He realeased his hold on her and squealed in a high pitched voice. Lissa was about to bring her hand down on the back of his neck since he was hunched over, but he suddenly shot up and grabbed her around the neck.

"Haha...you missed." He said humorously, spinning around and lifting Lissa off the floor, his hand wrapped firmly around her wind-pipe. She choked on the air and spluttered as he walked forward. He slammed her into the mirror behind her, making the class crack where her head hit. I saw her eyes roll back for a second at the impact. "Don't you EVER..." he slammed her into the mirror again. Little pieces of glass chipped and fell to the floor. "Mess with me like that, little girl! You don't know who you're dealing with." He slammed her once more, making her head sway.

I rolled to my weak knees, and slid up the wall, leaning against it for support as I fought to stand. Lissa's face was turning a bright red. She tried to move her arms, but every time she started to, he would slam her back against the mirror again. By now, a trail of scarlet was winding it's way down her neck, little pieces of glass constantly tinkering to the floor. As her face tinted purple, I was on my feet. I wobbled to the soap dispenser, and wrenched the top off of it. I jammed both my hands in, immerging them in the soapy, purple liquid. Ari turned at the noise.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled, his grip still firmly choking Lissa. She tried to move again, so he turned to smash her against the now shattered mirror. But before he could, I launched myself at him from behind, grabbing onto his shoulders and wrapping my legs around his waist. He yelped. I dug my soapy fingers into his eyes as hard as I could, practically trying to gouge them out. He screamed in pain, but did not release Lissa. I clawed at his eyes, now, scratching the skin around them, and sinking my teeth into the back of his neck and digging my heels into his sides painfully. He finally let her go only to throw me ferociously backwards so that I hit the floor with a hard thunk and slid backwards until I smacked into the door.

The searing pain in my ribs was now more painful than ever and I was forced to lay there limp for a moment. Lissa dropped down to the floor, managing to roll out of his blind reach and into a stall, locking the door. Ari howled as the soap stung his eyes. I could see large scratches gouged deep around them, oozing blood. He ran to the sink and turned the remaining faucet on, splashing his face with the cold water and growling. He finally whipped around, his eyes red and watery from my attack, but I guess he was able to see. Because he turned to me and shouted: "You little shit! I'm going to teach you some manners you won't soon forget, kid!" He stalked towards were I lay crumpled. I tried to stand up, but I was still weak from the drugs, and I think I had at least two broken ribs.

I braced myself for a horrible impact, but suddenly, Lissa jumped out from her hiding place and went bezerk on him.

"Don't you ever, EVER mess with me you big, hairy bastard! Why don't you go rot!" she yelled, beating the complete shit out of him. When he was sufficiently dizzy from all her kicks and punches, she grabbed him by his neck and hair and steered him into a stall. I heard a loud splashing noise and some uncomfortable gurgling before the toilet flushed. "That's what would happen to you if you were in highschool, douche bag!" And she steered him out again, his head completely soaked in toilet water. She slammed him into a wall face first, busting his nose up and spraying blood against the wall. He now looked so disoriented he could hardly stand.

"And finally..." she said, throwing him down on the floor and pulling his hand behind his back. "I think you owe us both an apology." He only groaned. She pushed his arm upward and he let out a sharp hiss. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Lissa asked in a faux kind voice.

"I'm sorry..." Ari hissed, his face scrunched in pain. Lissa smirked. Satisfied, she grabbed the earlier discarded faucet and brought it down on the back of his neck, knocking him right out. Huffing in exauhstion, she tossed it aside and backed up, leaning against a stall. I still lay on the floor in a beaten mess. After she caught her breath she finally turned to me. "Er...thanks, for back there. I wouldn't have gotten out of that chokehold without you." She allowed an awkward silence to follow the uncharacteristic comment.

"Yeah...you're right, you wouldn't have." I said smugly, grinning. "Now help me up, you big traitor." Lissa looked hurt for a minute before rolling her eyes and walking over to hoist me up off the floor, helping me walk over to hole in the ceiling. There was a loud rustling noise from up there, and suddenly, Fang's head was visible.

"Are you guys alright?" He caught sight of the damage in the bathroom. "Shit..." he muttered under his breath, also noticing Ari sprawled on the floor. "Do I even want to know?" he finally asked, his face going back to expressionless. I found myself smirking at his cluelessness.

"No, probably not." was all I said, still leaning heavily on Lissa, but making a great effort to stand up by myself. Fang paused for a moment.

"And um...well...what exactly is going on with you two?" he asked quietly. "I mean...normally...you're trying to bite eachother's heads off, and now you're all...buddies. And why do I get the feeling that something really Freaky Friday happened here?" Me and Lissa looked at eachother.

"Do you really want to know?" we said in unison. He paused for a second again, thinking.

"Actually, no. Let's get out of here." Lissa nodded and told Fang to hoist me up through the hole. He grabbed my outstretched arm and soon I was up in the cieling. Lissa joined us up there and we eventually made our way to the ladder that led to the roof. I managed to climb it without killing anybody or myself, and now we were bursting throught the brown metal doors and into the fresh air. Iggy, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Total were all waiting impatiently for us by the edge. Apparently, no one had figured out that we were up here yet, because nothing seemed different. The little kids ran and hugged Lissa, and I felt a bit hurt, but I knew they weren't doing it on purpose. But still...I missed my flock.

"Alright..." Lissa started playing leader again. "Umm...well, I suppose we just kind of fly off now, huh?" she suggested. I shook my head.

"Uh-uh." I piped up. There's no way anyone of you is going to be able to carry me at a safe speed to get out of here quickly. Look...they have guards posted all around the building. They have guns. As soon as we hit the skies, they're going to fire." I thought for a minute, resuming my proper role as leader of this flock. I sighed with relief. It felt good to be in control again. Then I spotted a truck parked off to the side of the building, completely empty and just ASKING to be high-jacked. I grinned.

"Okay...we'll need someone to fly as a distraction to the guards, and the little kids and I will sneak down to that truck. It can be our little escape vehicle." I suggested, pointing to the forlorn truck. I only prayed it was still working and had a tank full of gas. If it didn't we were screwed.

"Hey, who put you in charge?" Gazzy asked suddenly, confronting the unusual scene. Lissa shushed him and told him to just do what I asked. There was no time to worry about who called the shots. He looked confused, but obeyed. Fang and Iggy agreed to be our decoys. The rest of us would sneak down to the truck and get going. We were just getting ready to go ahead with everything, when two guards burst through the doors, guns poised at the ready. One of them fired a shot, clipping Gazzy in the shoulder. It didn't do much damage, but he shrunk back in pain. This brought out the fire in me.

"You sick bastard! He's just a kid!" I screamed, knocking the gun out of the hands of the guard closest to me. The other one shot at me, but missed. "Go, go!" I yelled at everyone, punching one of them in the face. "Oww..." I murmured under my breath when my fist made contact. He winced and drew back. Iggy and Fang took off in a frenzy. "Go!" I yelled to Lissa. She looked back and forth between me and the truck. The kids were all looking confused at what they should do.

Lissa abruptly came over and kicked one of the guards off the roof. His scream as he tumbled down was chilling. Iggy and Fang were soaring around in the sky. The sounds of guns shooting off at them terrified me. Suddenly, we heard more footsteps coming up the stairs. The guard that was still on the roof grinned. Lissa kicked him backwards and then steered me to the roof. "Can you fly down to that truck?" she asked Gazzy urgently. He nodded like the brave little boy he was. "Good...everyone go down there as fast as possible. I've got...Lissa, here."

The little kids listened and took off in the direction of the truck. Lissa picked me up, groaning at my weight. "Hey, are you sure you can-AHHHHH!" she had jumped off without warning, lashing her wings out. Our plummet to the Earth was slowed and we landed safely, me suffering only a SMALL heart-attack. We ran to the truck, which I realized was actually a gasoline truck. Which meant we would all have to cram into the front. I ushered the little kids into the front, some of them having to sit on the floor. "I'll drive." I said hurriedly, running around to the drivers side.

"Haha...yeah right! You're loopier than my Mom after a night at the bar." Lissa said jokingly. She ran over and jumped in. "Sorry..." she grinned, "Guess you're gonna have to grab shotgun." And THERE was her bitchy side again. I brushed it off and ran over to the other side. This was NO time for another argument. She was just swerving around the corner when Fang ran out in front of us. Lissa slammed on the breaks so as not to hit him. "Jesus Christ!" she yelled, flipping him off. He held up a machine gun. I saw her eyes go wide. She rolled down the window.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled as he came around to talk to us.

"Iggy's still flying around. We'll follow you guys when you go. But...will you do me a favor. Drive around The School just once when I tell you to." I looked at Lissa, confused. But...Fang probably knew what he was talking about, and Lissa would do anything he asked, so...

"Yeah, sure. Just tell us when to go so we can get out of here fast." she said, rolling up the window and bracing herself to drive. There was the loud bang of a gunshot through the truck. We all winced. Fang gave us a thumbs up and we started circling The School as fast as possible. When we completed out little round, Fang told us to start driving away. It was probably a smart idea too, because both Lissa and Fang said they could hear what sounded like an entire army of guards coming for us. We pulled out and started speeding away.

Looking in the rearview mirrors, I saw Fang pull a lighter out of his pocket and set fire to the trail of gas we had created by driving the leaking truck around The School. A ring of fire errupted in flames of fury, blocking the entrances. I grinned. We were now pulling onto a concealed road and were speeding away, trying to find the intersection. I saw Iggy and Fang flying a bit ahead of us in the open skyline. I sighed in relief and looked down at my feet. Angel, Nudge, Gazzy and Total were all scrunched into a small space, looking uncomfortable but relieved. I grinned.

"You guys okay?" They all nodded. I ruffled Gazzy's hair without thinking about how wierd it would be, and turned to Lissa. Her eyes were on the road, but she caught me looking at her and cocked her head in confusion.

"What?" she asked, glancing back at the road and then to me again. I shook my head, feeling like I could laugh because I was just so relieved that we had gotten out.

"Nothing...I just...We made it out, ya know?" Lissa thought for a minute.

"Yeah...I do know..." she said. We both raised our hands and slapped eachother a highfive. It was a truce. We were no longer enemies. We had just saved eachother's lives. And there's no way you can hate someone after that.

* * *

After a square hour of driving, we finally pulled onto a familiar steet. Us...looking beaten and battered, driving a shot up gasoline truck in a suburban neighborhood. Someone probably thought we were the creepy new neighbors. I just laughed. We screeched to a stop, and everyone piled out. I breathed the fresh, safe air. And savored the sight of seeing my whole flock safe. Gazzy's shoulder had healed up enough so that it wasn't even bleeding anymore, and the drugs had worn off by now. I stood by the truck in complete elation.

And then I caught sight of my reflection in the glass. Red hair, smattering of freckles...Lissa's body. And there I stood, five feet away, Lissa's being in me. I wriggled in uncomfortable feelings. I felt out of place and exposed again. I looked at my watch. It was nearing 7:30 at night. We were out of time. It was too late. I sighed. I needed to adjust for a minute. I took a deep breath and leaned against the truck.

"Come on, Max! Let's head home!" Nudge yelled in that energetic way of hers. Of course, this was actually directed at Lissa. This tugged something in my heart. I would never have any of them look at me like that again. I felt a tear slip out of the corner of my eye. I was too exauhsted to wipe it away. Lissa looked back at me.

"You guys go ahead...I'm gonna drop Lissa off at her house." she said, giving me a small wave. I didn't have the heart to return it. Nudge looked at her in confusion.

"Umm...okay. Anne's gonna kill us anyways, though." she said, starting to walk away to tell Fang. Lissa nodded and told her she knew. I groaned. Not only was I going to be stuck in this body forever, but I would also have to face the wrath of Anne. Oh wait...no I wouldn't. Lissa would. This brought a gruesome, twisted smile to my face. I watched my flock retreat, unknowing. Lissa walked over to me.

"Come on...we better get back to my house. I wanna check up on my Mom. She's probably drunk herself silly, but...I just wanna make sure she's okay." I nodded.

"You really love your Mom after all she's done to you?" I asked, doubting that anything of the sort was possible. She shrugged.

"She's my Mom. I love HER. I just...hate what she's become, ya know?" I nodded, thinking back to Jeb. We had started to walk in the direction of her house without consciensiously knowing it. The rest of our steps were ensued by silence, and before I knew it, we were walking up her driveway. "We don't make a bad team..." Lissa said, fumbling under the doormat for a key.

"Yeah...please don't make this into a cheesy movie moment, though." I begged, not having much of a taste for the over-dramatic elements in my life. You get a bit tired of feeling like your whole life is nothing but one, ongoing action movie. She laughed just a tiny bit and unlocked the door.

"I'm exauhsted, and I'm starving. Would you mind if I stayed over? We don't have any real food, and I don't know...I don't wanna be around my Mom tonight." I groaned but agreed. I mean...it's not like **I** could sleep at Anne's house without Lissa there. I reminded her of this and she started to laugh a little. "Oh yeah...forgot about that." We walked a little bit into the house. "Call out for my Mom."

"Mom!" I yelled. "Mom, I'm home! Where are you?" I yelled out, waiting for an one responded. Lissa looked confused.

"Where is she? I mean...she at least usually stumbles drunkenly down the stairs." We wandered into the kitchen. It too, was empty and silent. "Maybe she went to the club." She peeked around the corner into their dining room and started calling out. I strolled into their living room, not seeing anything at first.

"Mom..." I said, tentatively. There was still no response. The only thing that answered my calls was a numbing silence. I didn't like how heavy it felt. It felt...wrong. I walked a little further into the living room. There. I felt my eyes go wide. A pair of legs was all I saw sticking out from behind the coffee table. I wobble slowly towards it, reluctant to peak around to see the rest. Afraid of what would be lying there. But I had to. It was like a car crash. So awful, but you just can't kill the curiosity that bubbles inside of you. You can't look away.

But when I looked, I felt sick. I actually had to fight to keep myself from being sick right then and there. Lissa wandered into the room. "I dont' know, I can't find her." She caught sight of me standing, terrified. "What?" she asked frightendly. I just looked at her. I knew from her expression that she knew what had happened. She didn't even look. Just sank to the floor. Her eyes spaced out. She didn't cry, didn't make a sound. She...shut down. I looked away and back to the tragedy on the floor.

Mrs. Morgan was sprawled in a twisted position on the floor, crumpled and broken. She had a paling black bruise on her chin. Her skin was the chalkiest in color and her lips were stained a solemn blue that spoke for itself. A small trickle, of purple dried blood had run from her mouth and was now soaking into the carpet. Beside her lay a small, empty capsule, a syringe with a bloody needle, a lighter that had singed a burn in the coffee table, and a spoon with a brown stain on it.

But...I couldn't take my eyes off of her blue lips...

* * *

**A/N: **Haha...I love torturing you guys. It's so fun. Did you see that coming? Surprise, surprise. I just had to throw a little bit more drama into the pot.

Okay..this is really pathetic, but when I was writing this, I kept bursting out into laughter because I kept thinking of this scene from the Stephen King version of The Shining. It's when the Dad is driving in the car, and the car behind him is driving really fast, so he yells, "Come on! Get off my ass!" and the little boy just says "It's okay, Dad. Just let him sit on it and rotate." That's one of my favorite parts. My favorite is when they lock the dad in the celllar because he's insane and he starts mocking his wife, and he's eating peanut butter. I could watch that part all day. LOL...you have to watch that part. He sound really fucked up.

I've been obsessively reading Wuthering Heights. I love that book, and I just HAVE to re-read it.


	13. Author's Note: Important Shit :D

**A/N: **Okay...right now you're probably kinda pissed at me, and thinking "What the hell? I thought this was going to be a chapter!". And, I'm sorry, but you'll have to bare with me for right now. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time, that the next chapter I put up (the one I'm going to post after this Author's note) is going to be **THE LAST CHAPTER **of this story.

That in mind, I just wanted to let you know so not everyone's like, WTF? So...I'm working on making the last chapter fabulous wich is why it's taking me a bit longer. I'm probably about...I'd say a quarter of the way done with it, maybe a little bit more give or take. But...I'm just trying to get everything condensed into that chapter, because I don't have enough plot left for two chapters. So...just give me a wee bit more time, kk?

Thanks a million for being so patient with me, guys! I love you,

xoxo,  
MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear

P.S. Let's review all the smiley faces I know...hehe... O.o :D ;) :) XD :( T_T :P :0 ^.^ ^_^ :) ...that's all I got. :D


	14. Where Forgiveness and Closure Lurk

**A/N: **Sorry. I know that was a bit of a long wait for this update. I just had a touch of trouble writing a chapter for the other story I'm currently working on. I think I may have had just a tad of writer's block. Just enough to make me impatient with my work. I seem to have recovered though, and I'm ready to have a go at my final installment of this story. Haha...I make it sound like I contracted some awful disease while I was absent. Anyways...to the story, my good fellows!

**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF SWITCHED! ENJOY!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Forgiveness and Closure Lurk in Hospital Rooms**

**Lissa's POV **

Everything seemed to be meshing together. The many sounds that filled my bustling house had long since faded into a dull drone that buzzed in the back of my throbbing head. Every flash of red or blue light from the ambulance that lit up the now blackening sky was burned into my retinas. The people that brushed past me, the ghosts of people's hands that touched my shoulders...everything was a tingling blur that reminded me not of reality or anything perceptable, but of a dream that had no conclusion.

I knelt, crumpled, on my carpet, which I had never paid more attention to than now. I had never noticed how rough it was. How grainy it felt, and how badly it needed a vaccum. I had never seen the thick layer of dust that coated our TV screen. Nor had I ever had the slightest notion that the blinds on our windows were so sun-stained. Paling yellow patches against the original cream tone. I would have to clean later.

I saw the movement in front of me. Two large men, one with skin as dark as the sky outside, crouched by the coffee table, examining something. My inner-conscience knew what it was, but it was trying to protect me. It wouldn't let me comprehend what was laying behind that forlorn coffee table. A woman passed me to my right and joined the two crouching forms. She pulled a long, white streatcher behind her. The men nodded to eachother and stood up simultaneously, something cradled in their muscled arms.

A body. A lifeless body. With curly red hair and my green eyes. But instead of her skin being that slightly yellow color I had seen so much, it was a pasty white. And her once ruby painted lips were blue. It seemed to take them forever to load her onto the bed, but something told me this was all happening very fast. The two men immediately dashed from the room with the streatcher rolling along. The woman turned to me. She gave me a sad smile, and walked kindly over to me. Resting a hand on my shoulder, she started to speak.

"Come on, dear. It's chilly in here. Let's get you warm someplace else." I dimly heard this, but either I did not WANT to comprehend the sentence, or I COULDN'T. She started to try and tug me up, but I stayed on the floor in absolute self-pity. After another minute of pointless coaxes to stand up, she released my shoulder and exited the room. I felt a chill run down my spine. I didn't want to be left alone. I didn't think I could bare it, but she came back suddenly with another man. He stooped down and scooped me up into his arms, turning to exit the house with me safely pressed against his chest.

Out of the front door, we straggled. I could see two fire trucks parked in my driveway, and many firefighters mulled around, talking to eachother. It looked as if the ambulance had already departed. There was a lone police car halted near the road, parked sloppily. I could see my neighbors had crowded around the block in horror. Some, I could see, were crying while others simply looked on in shock. I spotted someone in the crowd that looked vaugley familiar. Behind my lids, a flashback suddenly interrupted my thoughts. Back a couple of days ago when I had been climbing off of the bus with a bloody lip after smacking it on a seat...

_The other guy getting off the bus turned around and stared. "Are you okay?" he asked skeptically, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes so I could see that they were a sparkly green. I was mesmerized by them for a minute before I remembered the question._

_"Yeah, peachy." I grumbled sarcastically before walking across the street. The boy retreated into the apartment building down the street on the other side. I rolled my eyes. Boys asked the most retarted questions. _

The same boy stood in amongst my other neighbors, a look of confusion and terror on his face when he caught sight of me. I couldn't see why he was so concerned. It's not like he KNEW me. OR my mother, for that matter. Why were any of these people here? I didn't recognize half of them, and even the one's that I did...It's not like they had heard from my mother since we had first moved in and they all brought welcome cookies to the new single mom in the neighborhood. Since then, my Mom had holed herself up like a hermit. Not leaving the house except to go to work, the bars, or to find men she could toy around with.

Suddenly, I saw Max dashing across my driveway, away from the police officer she was talking to. He looked stunned, but made no attempt to draw her back to the conversation. He merely looked on in curiosity. The man carrying me halted when she came to a stop in front of us and asked if she could talk to me. The man shook his head at first and explained that I was in a state of unhealthy mental shock and needed peace away from here.

"Please..." Max pleaded with him, her wild brown eyes shining with earnest. They looked odd with my features. Not bad, but...different. "She's my friend, she needs to come with me to the hospital, too. She knows my Mom REALLY well." I had never heard Max beg for anything before. I was still a bit confused about what exactly was going on at the moment. I knew something was wrong, but I had a hard time putting all the pieces together.

Suddenly, I was being sandwiched into the back of a flashing police car with Max by my side. She helped buckle me in when I made no attempt to move, but sat staring at the woman in the front of the car, scribbling something in a notepad and picking up a walkie-talkie periodically to murmer something unitelligable into it. I turned to look at Max. She, too, was looking straight ahead now, worry etched into her normally go-with-the-flow features. "What's going on?" I said, sounding frazzled. I cleared my soar throat, and tried to get some moisture into my mouth, which felt like it had been recently filled with dry sawdust.

"We're going to the hospital." was all she said, not looking at me. I couldn't tell if she was avoiding my gaze on purpose, or if she was actually preoccupied with what was going on in front of us. When I asked her what had happened, she didn't respond at first. I asked again. She finally sighed. "Lissa...your mom is very...sick." She turned her eyes to me. My expression stayed the same. My mom was very SICK? How old did she think I was? Five? A bit of anger flashed inside of me. I wasn't sure why, as none of this was her fault.

"You mean she's dying..." I said, not asked. Max looked at me for a long moment before shaking her head in a non-informative way.

"I don't know. I really don't know what happened. But, from the looks of her when I found her, it looked like she had just taken some kind of drug." She broke down towards the end of the sentence, sighing heavily to keep herself from crying outright. Regardless, I saw a few tears slip out and paint their path down her cheeks. This was backwards. **I** should be the one crying. She was **my** mother after all. Then why did I feel this sense of indifference towards the situation? Why was I not sobbing and praying for her to be okay? Instead, an unstoppable laugh rose up in me and burst out. Max looked up at me, appalled at my behavior.

"Why are you laughing?" she said incredulously. "That's an awful thing to do! Drugs or not, she's your mother. You said to me just before you got to your house that you really, truly loved her no matter what. And here you are...laughing while she lays with blue lips in a hospital bed somewhere." She had halted her crying and was now venting what appeared to be a build-up of former frustrations. I sighed, not sure why I wasn't very concerned. I just couldn't begin to feel sorrow in this tragic situation. It was like it was the most ironic way for my mother to die. With the only thing she ever cared about. While the only thing she ever **should **have cared about, miles away helping her friends. I leaned my head back against the seat, shut my eyes, and told Max not to disrupt me until we got to the hospital. I needed time to think and process.

* * *

We had flown down the freeway at a barely legal speed, and were now screeching to a stop in the hospital parking lot near the front entrance. Max, always thinking and considerate, said thank you to the police woman who had driven us, and then hopped out of the car in a rush. I unbuckled myself slowly and siddled over to where she waited impatiently on the curb. She grabbed my hand in a commanding sort of way and then practically dragged me through the electrical sliding doors. They were smudged with handprints. Someone needed to clean them.

Max ran, still pulling me, up to the front desk and waited for the mousey woman to look up from her computer screen. She was petite, with small features and skinny limbs. She had thick, light brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Her wide, green eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick glasses. "Can I help you?" she asked, finally taking her eyes off of the screen and removing a headset to talk to us.

"Yes..." Max said, breathing heavily with exertion. "I need the room number of...um...er-" she looked at me in complete desperation. Of course...she didn't know my mother's name. I sighed.

"Charlotte Morgan." I said calmly, examining a poster on the wall that was reminding you to wash your hands. My mother's name didn't suit her. At least not anymore. My Mom once told me that Charlotte meant small and feminine, much like an angel. She said that's why her mother had picked the name. I'm not so sure she deserved her name anymore. She was still little. Rather short, and unhealthily skinny from all the drugs replacing food. But she had lost her femininity. She no longer really cared how she looked. Just as long as she was wearing thick coats of black eyeshadow and red lipstick, caking her face with concealer to hide her dark under-eye circles from the world.

And she tramped around every bar in town, picking up guys like she was shopping at a freaking grocery store. All feminine traces were erased. She no longer lived up to her name. It was a cheap charade, fake and masklike. She hid behind it as a last hanging fragment of what she used to be. It made me sick. Max, oblivious to my feelings, tapped anxiously on the counter as the woman typed something into her computer. At long last, she let out a low sigh and bent forward to see the screen, adjusting her glasses. "Ummm, yes..." she said, still reading. "Well, Mrs. Morgan is currently in emergency care and cannot be visited at this time. I'm terribly sorry."

What she had said sounded like a routine. A rehearsed line said over and over again to many other people in my situation. An unexplainable rage boiled in me. I slammed both my hands down on the counter, causing the woman to flinch back and many people to stare. "Listen, lady!" I said through barred teeth, "That's my mother in there, and I DEMAND to see her! I'm her only child!" I gripped the counter, scraping my nails across it in a desperate attempt to quail my anger.

"Lissa, not now..." Max said quietly to me, hardly moving her lips. She apologized to the woman for my anger and then started to drag me away. I wrenched my arm out of her grip.

"No!" I yelled, not caring that I was acting like a two-year-old having a tantrum. "Where is she? She's my mother! I need to see her." I leaned dramatically over the counter, trying to scare some sense into this woman. She pushed away in her rolling chair and stood up in surprise.

"She's in Emergency Ward C. Now please calm down miss. Miss! You can't go that way!" I had run off in the direction of two large, white plastic doors labeled Emergency Ward C in big red letters across the top.

"Lissa!" I heard Max yelling impatiently behind me. Then I heard the sound of her footsteps picking up pace to try to run me down. Haha...like that would ever happen. Yeah right. I could out run her in the blink of an eye. But, of course, I forgot that she was the strategizing one, and would obviously be able to think up a plan to stop me. I looked behind me and saw her running a good twenty feet behind me. The white hall we were shooting through was lined with empty hospital stretchers. "Lissa! Wait!" Max cried, I turned again to see her stopping. I cocked my head to the side and then slammed into something.

I crashed to the floor, having just run into an abandoned stretcher someone had left in the middle of the hallway. "God dammit!" I yelled furiously, ignoring the stares of an elderly woman pushing her invalid hudband down the hall in a wheelchair. On the floor in complete dissaray with my pride laying a few feet out of reach, I wrapped my arms around my legs and put my head down on my knees, beginning to cry. I heard Max's footsteps closing in on my quivering form. I was so overwhelmed with the situation that I had not an ounce of shame to spare about my childish behavior.

"It's okay. It's going to be alright." Max said calmly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Come on...everything will go faster if we wait in the waiting room like civilized people." She tried to help me stand. I made an effort, but my legs were shaking furiously.

"I can't believe this is happening." I said with a shakey voice. "I mean...I knew she was just dragging herself down, but...she's my mom! This isn't supposed to happen!" And I was overwhelmed with another bout of crying. Max looked awkward for a minute, but then she patted my back gingerly and started to lead me towards the waiting room. It felt like the situation had finally caught up with me. It had suddenly just sunk in that my mother's life was in danger. She could be dead NOW for all I know. At this though, more tears leaked out of my already oceanized eyes.

Max steered me right into plopping down into one of the hospital's poorly padded waiting room chairs. She cautiously took a seat beside me as I wiped furiously at my eyes with the backs of my hands. Looking at the clock and seeing that it was already 8:30, I realized the only thing left to do now was wait. I shut my eyes tightly and tried to ignore the tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach that told me I had other things to worry about on top of my mother being locked in a hospital.

* * *

Tick, tick, tick, tick... Even with my eyes shut, I was feeling overwhelmed. Having inherited Max's super hearing, I was exposed to the demons of constant noise and fidgiting. And nothing that moved could go unnoticed to my ears. It was great that they were attuned that finely to pick out danger. I mean...great if you were actually IN danger, but in any other situation it was agonizingly annoying. The clock was spitting insults at me from the wall with each of it's cunning ticks. And every person that shuffled but a centimeter sent ice needles digging into my skin in desperate attempts to perforate it.

"Ms. Morgan?" I started in my seat, my eyes flying open and my breathing knocked off course. There was a kindly white coated man standing in front of the two seats me and Max occupied. He was tall and lanky with pitch black hair and brown eyes that twinkled when he smiled. "I recognized you immediately. You have your mother's beautiful red hair. But not her green eyes." he grinned, of course addressing Max.

_"But I DO have her beautiful green eyes!" _I thought in my head, a yearning to be recognized as who I was bubbling inside me. "How is she?" I blurted out anxiously, looking demandingly at the doctor. He looked startled that it was I who spoke and not Max, but answered my question anyways.

"Yes, well...she's stabilized at the moment." I let out a tremendous sigh of relief, feeling like a heavy burden had just been lifted off of my shoulders. "She had quite the nasty turn, though. Almost didn't make it through. You're mother's a fighter." I laughed quietly. However diminished and fragile she was, my mother was no weakling. She'd raised me entirely on her own after my dad had abandoned us. Another tear streaked down my face. I brushed it away as the doctor continued. "It looks to me like an accidental overdose, but...you can never tell with these things. Looks like she fell and hit her jaw on the side of your coffee table from the way her chin is bruised."

I put my head in my hands. How could she be so stupid? After everything she's put me through, she goes and overdoses? A sense of betrayal took the place of my previous worry. I felt bipolar tonight. On a never-ending rollercoaster of emotions. I stood up abruptly. "I want to see her." I commanded. I said this with such authority that the doctor asked no questions. He simply looked stunned, but told us to follow him. I saw Max glancing carefully at me occasionally. "What?" I asked, getting irritated with her sneaky looks.

"I just-Are you okay?" she asked, looking actually genuinely concerned for me and my well-being. It took my by surprise, but then I remembered that we had a truce between us, and shrugged. The doctor lead us down the white hall and to a homely grey door, pushing it open and motioning for us to go on in.

"Try not to wake her. Not that you could, she's unconcious." He chuckled at his twisted humor. I grimaced as this was neither time nor place for jokes. At least he left us alone to see her. I teetered into the room behind Max's feigned calm walk and caught the first real glimpse of my mother. What I saw had me sinking to my knees in agony. All feelings of betrayal melted away at her sickly pale face. Her hair stuck to her forehead in a sheen of cold sweat. Her lips were cracked and dry, with only a little color in them. A large purpling bruise was settling into her chin. My breath came in short gasps.

Max stood, immobile, by my side. I crawled up to the bed and grasped onto the railing to pull myself up. "What have you done to yourself?" I asked her incredulously, brushing the hair off of her face. "You're a puppet to your grief..." I grabbed her icy hand and stuck it up to my wet cheek. "Feel what you've done to me, selfish bitch..." And I was angry again. Like all hell, I was angry. Such a fire burned up inside me that it couldn't be contained. "Why did you do this to me!" I screamed, gripping her hand tightly and letting the stream from behind my eyes run free. I flung myself across her bed, my body covering her frail one, and I began to sob relentlessly.

Max left me to wilt into the covers with my agony for a minute before walking over and pulling me off. "Do you have no shame for your behavior?" She asked firmly, but with a gentle tinge. "Crying like that isn't going to fix anything. You need to pull yourself together. For both of you." She grabbed a box of tissues off of the small table at bedside and handed it to me. "Do you think me and the flock would've made it where we are now if I had sat down and cried and forgotten everything else when we though Jeb died?" She looked me straight in the eyes, her stubborn expression baring down on my pitiful one. "Do you think you made it this far in life without having a mental breakdown because you cried everytime something happened?"

I wiped my eyes fiercly. Deep in my heart, I knew she was right. I just would never be able to admit it if I wanted to save the last bit of my pride. "You have a right to be angry, and sad and confused." she told me. "But know that none of these emotions will fix the problem. Only strength of character and perserverance can do that." I made a desperate attempt to stop my tears, pinching my eyes shut and wiping any tears that slipped out with quick force. My shoulders shook and I felt like I was going to explode with grief, but I held everything in. I bottled it all up and refused to let it escape. Max saw my struggling expression and sighed. "It's not going to fix anything, but sometimes everyone just needs a good cry..." she said gently, "Even me, sometimes."

I took a look at my mom stretched out on that bed, and thought of everything she had done to me, but everything she had done FOR me as well. And I couldn't contain it anymore. I finally just collapsed against Max, my head laying heavily on her shoulder as my tears swelled out afresh, new sobs filling my lungs. "This was never supposed to be the way it is! No kid should ever have to go through this!" I cried in absolute devastation. Max stood rigid for a moment before her arms came around my back and she stumbled backwards into the one, large arm chair the hospital had set up in the room.

As she sunk into, I fell next to her, my face still burried in her shoulder. Even after every bitter fight and disagreement we've ever had, it still felt so good to have someone to comfort me. I hadn't had any comfort from someone else since...a VERY long time ago. And I relished in it. I could tell that Max had done quite alot of comforting in her life. She didn't try to talk or make me regain control, she just let me cry and occasionally patted my back.

Finally, I felt that all my tears had run out. I sucked in a couple of deep breaths. "Why did this happen, Max?" I asked breathlessly, not lifting my head from its position on her hard shoulder. "Why?" I breathed...

"I don't know Lissa...some things just happen that shouldn't have. Some things that are just bad and awful and terrible. But it just shows how strongly, and how deeply, how passionately a human being can feel. You can make it through this. Just rest..." she whispered. I sighed and breathed more evenly as I calmed myself. Max patted my back again, and I could feel myself drifting. I could feel it all slipping away. Every worry, and every fear...It didn't exist in my dreams...It never existed in my dreams...

* * *

**Max's POV **

A little while after Lissa dozed off from pure exhaustion, I became dimly aware that I, too was slipping under the blanket of heavy sleep. I fought with my drooping lids for a good five minutes before I gave up and let them slide closed, un-scolded. Asleep, I had no dreams of any sort. At least not any that I can consciously recall now that I'm slowly fumbling to wake up. It seemed a rather peacefull sleep to have had after such a twisted last couple days.

I yawned and wiggled around, nudging into something hard and cold. I felt cramped and folded up like I had been stuffed into a box. The sudden paranoia about claustrophobia overtook me then, and I scrambled desperately to escape the enclosed space which turned out to be an arm chair. I skittered to the floor, jumping up with quick reflexes. I was still in the hospital room. Lissa's mom was dozing peacefully on the bed beside me. Either that or she was peacefully unconscious...It was hard to tell at this point. But I noticed that Lissa herself had dissappeared.

I stretched, feeling something odd on my back. I froze. Could it be? No way... I cautiously, folded my arms back to feel my shoulders. _Brush... _Soft as a pillow. I almost screamed, jumping and resituating my arms to feel more. To grab handfulls of the feathers that had re-imbedded themselves in my back. I picked up my dirty blonde hair and rubbed up to my un-freckled cheeks. My tanner skin, my bonier legs and arms. I had a sudden urge to examine myself in a mirror just to know that this wasn't all an illusion. I dashed across the room to go find a bathroom.

Tearing down the hall and slamming to a stop near a wooden door labeled as the women's bathroom, I shoved through the door and it banged into something behind it, producing a groan from whoever I had just hit. My eyes went wide and I poked my head in to see Lissa crumpled against the wall, rubbing water from her eyes. And it was the ACTUAL Lissa. Red hair, pale skin, curvy features and all! She rubbed her nose before looking up to see me. I was grinning wildly just to see her back in her own body.

"Max..." she said in an awed voice, not being able to keep her own grin locked away. "It...we...we're back." She picked up strands of red hair and held them out as if to show me. I grinned wider, and suddenly we were jumping around and squealing like little school girls. Celebrating like mad, we ignored the nurses giving us wierd looks as they exited the bathroom. After a few moments of pure bliss, we slowed to a stop and looked around awkwardly.

I finally cleared my throat. "So...um...I guess whatever we did worked, huh?" I said, thinking back to last night. It had been rather eventful, if I do say so myself. Maybe everything that had happened had finally forced us to bond. Lissa just nodded at my comment and picked at her hands. There was a heavy layer of unexplainable silence. We simply had nothing to say about anything. Finally, to break the feeling, I pushed the door open. "C'mon...maybe your mom's awake by now." We were just about to exit when I remembered why I had run to the bathroom in the first place. "Hold on..."

I skidded in front of a mirror and saw my own reflection staring back at me. Such a feeling of elation grew inside me, that I felt like screaming again. But...I didn't want anyone to lock me up in a psych-ward, so I kept quiet. This WAS a hospital after-all. They could diagnose me with all sorts of strange things if I acted wierd. Manic depression, schizophrenia, or just plain old mental retardation. Ugh...this was not a nice place. Wandering the halls of the hospital brought back many bad memories of The School. Both locations had that strange sterile feel to them, and both of them were swarming with people in white coats. I resisted the urge to punch doctors when they came around corners, resembling the dreaded people of The School.

Upon entering her mother's room, Lissa froze, stopped by the sight of two people standing by the bed. Her mother's eyes were open and travelling the room in swift motions. One of the people turned when she heard us. She was of some sort of ethnicity that is so easily confused with others. Her dark, olive skin and brown eyes. She was slim and had dark brown hair with tints of red pulled back into a uniform pony tail. She smiled, her lips a color cross between peach and light coffee. "You must be Lissa." She walked over to her, and shook her hand.

Lissa looked nothing if not confused, peeking over the woman's shoulder to see what the other woman was doing to her mom. She was scribbling something on a clipboard, and looking on at Mrs. Morgan with a look of concern. "What are you doing to her?" Lissa asked quietly, letting her recently shaken hand fall to her side. The woman turned to look at Mrs. Morgan as well.

"We're reccomending a drug-rehabilitation center for your mother. It's just a couple miles from here, at a small hospital. She doesn't seem to find the idea exactly...ideal, if you will." She frowned at the subject of her sentence as she spoke, clearly dissappointed that she did not want to take up the offer. At the sight of her daughter, Mrs. Morgan propped herself up on her elbow and started to talk in a frightened voice.

"Lissa...oh, dear...Come here. Tell them I haven't been a bad mother. I can still take care of you. Right?" Her voice cracked towards the end of her pleading, and her eyes were overcome with a flood of fresh tears. She made no attempt to stop the flow. "I've been a good mother, I've taken good care of you. Haven't I? Oh tell them I have so they don't put me away." And she started to sob outright. Lissa's face, which at first showed pity, was now taking on the image of anger.

"Oh stop it, mom!" she said loudly, pushing past the woman who had been talking to her so that her mom would have a clear view of her. She looked up, confused and with her eyes red and swollen. "Just stop it! You want me to tell you the truth? Well...you really HAVEN'T taken good care of me. You haven't even taken good care of yourself. Look at you...reduced to nothing more than a cheap...slutty...ugh!" Lissa managed to cut herself off with her own anger.

"But...but I love you." Mrs. Morgan smiled wetly and reached out for her daughter's hand. Lissa slapped it away and took a step back.

"No...Mom, I love you, but I can't stay with you. I've been the one taking care of you, and...and I'm a **KID. **I'm not supposed to have to do that. Do you know how worried I was about you last night? After everything, you just decide to end it all and leave me here?" Her mom's grin had slid clean off her face as she continued. "I love you SOO much." Lissa finally took her mom's hand and pressed it to her cheek. "You'll never know how much, but I want you to get better. I want you to go into rehab and just...just be you again, mom." There was a moment of silence where I felt the urge to leave them alone. I felt like this was too private for me to be watching, but I couldn't move my legs to quit the room.

Mrs. Morgan kissed Lissa's hand. "But I do know just how much you love me. Because I love you even more...and I want you to be happy." Lissa's eyes welled up to match her mom's, both their pairs of green eyes shining and fierce. A soft resemblence in the two started to shine through. I looked down at my feet. This was more than I could take in a day.

"Then do this...Get better...take care of yourself. For me AND for you." I looked up again, the air tense with suspense at Mrs. Morgan's decision. Finally she sighed, and extended her hand for one of the women's clipboards.

"Allright, give that here. I'll try it...But only for you." And she grinned at Lissa, causing her to grin back as wide as I had ever seen her. The woman smiled and handed the requested item to her gladly, obviously pleased that her job was fulfilled. I looked on in awe as the registration form was filled out and things like insurance started to be discussed. "Where is my daughter going to stay?" This caught my attention. The woman we had originally spoken to, whose name I'd learned was Zeta, spoke up.

"Well, that depends. She's a minor so we'd have to have her stay somewhere. I'm assuming you and your husband are currently separated?"

"I will NOT have my daughter staying with that man. He DOES NOT have custody of MY child." Mrs. Morgan spat. Zeta backed off slightly, not wanting any tempers to flare.

"Is there a relative she could stay with?" was the next question posed. There was a moment while Lissa's mom thought.

"I suppose she could stay with my sister...You like Abby, right, Lis?" Lissa nodded slightly, looking slightly less than excited.

"Or perhaps a close family friend?" Zeta asked, prodding when she noticed Lissa's reaction. She immediately looked over at me. I stood up abruptly.

"Oh I don't know...Her aunt sounds pretty great, huh? Yeah...I think her aunt would be best." I said in a hurry. I could tolerate Lissa, but I was hardly waiting for her to MOVE IN with us. Lissa laughed slightly.

"Yeah...my aunt's fine. She's nice...and she has a daughter about my age. How long would I be there?"

"We can discuss details later, how about? I think you both need some rest. I'll come back tomorrow and we can talk it all through. You can stay at a friends house tonigh, huh?" Lissa looked awkwardly around the room, anywhere but me. I finally sighed, feeling just an ounce of guilt set in.

"Ugh...fine...ONE more night." Zeta looked confused at our odd relationship, but shrugged it off.

"Alright...well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then. Have a good day." And she nodded her head at all of us, and her and her friend took off through the door as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Which, for them, it probably happened. They did that sort of thing everyday. Another mother-daughter situation fixed. I suddenly gulped.

"Oh shit..." I muttered... Lissa looked at me expectantly. "I forgot about Anne." After everything that's happened...switching bodies with my arch enemy, getting locked away in the school again, spending an entire night in hospital...The thing that I dreaded most was confronting Anne. This was NOT going to be pretty...

* * *

**Lissa's POV**

"Come on...just go in already. I'm not sleeping in your driveway." Me and Max were planted just there, staring ominously up at Anne's house. I was impatiently coaxing Max to just go ahead and get it over with. She was acting like she was on death row or something for Christ's sake! I nudged her forward. "Go...I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything all day except for a bag of pretzles from the hospital vending machine. I crave real food."

"What...no weight loss bars?" Max asked, avoiding my urges. I rolled my eyes.

"Well...as someone once told me...I eat when I'm hungry and until I'm full. That's my new policy." There was a moment of silence before she grinned and rolled her eyes right back at me. Then she took a deep breath and skittered up to the door, ringing the bell. There was the sound of nothing, and then the _pat, pat, pat _of footsteps. It swung open, revealing a confused looking Fang. He raised his eyebrows when he saw us standing there.

"Huh...Anne is convinced you're dead. She's upstairs crying right now, but I'm sure she'll be pissed when she comes downstairs." Max punched Fang before practically jumping ontop of him in a hug. He looked taken aback, refusing to move as she squeezed him tightly. I stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Oh my god, it's good to be home." Max breathed in awe, releasing a confused Fang to step fully inside. I followed quietly. Suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps coming to the stairs, and there stood Anne in shock.

"Maximum Ride!" she yelled, coming down the stairs.

"On second thought..." Max murmured, awaiting the outburst. But, instead, she recieved a bone crushing hug. I shook my head. This household was nuts.

"Oh I was so worried about you! Don't you ever do that to me again, love..." Anne continued to gush mushy sayings out until Max was smiling.

"You mean I'm not in trouble?" Max said hopefully, grinning. Her foster-mother paused in her talking, pulling back with a stern look on her face.

"Who do think I am? Mr. Rogers? Of course you're in trouble! In fact, you're grounded for so long that we'll have to convert your room into a nursing home before I let you out of this house again, Missy!" Max just smiled, but there was also an "oh great...here comes the lecture..." look on her face.

"I'll be upstairs." I said, grinning at Max's irritated expression when I ditched her, not even bothering to explain that part of it was my fault. Not that it was or anything...Hehehe...

"Lissa..." I turned around and saw Fang coming up the stairs behind me. "Hey...I need to talk to you about something. About...you and me..." I braced myself for this conversation. I had known it was coming all along. I took a deep breath.

"What about you and me?" I prodded, wanting him to get to the point.

"Well...it's just...I've noticed that you've...well that you've got a bit of a...erm..."

"Major crush on you?" I suggested bluntly. He looked surprised at this direct imput, but nodded and continued.

"Well, yeah...and it's just that I-I..." Hmm...someone seemed to be having problems communicating today...

"Let me guess...you've got your eyes set on someone else right now?" I suggested, in the same "I already knew all about this" tone of voice. He nodded.

"Yeah...for a long time now..." he said distantly, looking off into the space behind me with a look of ease on his features. I turned around to where his gaze was directed and saw Iggy wandering across the hall. I felt my eyes go wide.

"Oh my god, I had no idea!" I said in awe. Fang looked confused for a minute before he caught on and his eyes, too, went as wide as saucers.

"No! God, no! That's not what I meant...not him. Just...but yeah...someone else." I nodded, and there was a moment of silence. And then I got up the courage to speak.

"Well, Fang...we're over." I said finally, looking him in the eye. He looked extremely confused.

"Wait what? But we were never-" I held up my hand to cut him off.

"Please...don't make this any harder than it needs to be. This relationship just isn't good for me anymore. I'm doubtful whether we can even still be friends." He looked behind him as though expecting that I was actually directing my words at someone else. "So, I guess this is goodbye, Fang." I stuck out my hand uniformly, with a solemn expression on my face. He tentatively put his hand in mine. When I released it, I walked to Max's room, opened the door, and turned around. "I want you to move on. Goodbye." And with that, I shut the door, hearing him mutter a weak goodbye after me. Ah boys...when will they ever learn that goodbye means GOODBYE?

I walked across Max's floor and to her window, peering out down at the streets below. There, pedaling along up the driveway on his bike, was a very familiar boy. It was the same boy from the bus stop and that I had seen last night in Max's body. I wondered if he would still remember me...He tossed something towards the porch. So...he was the paper boy huh? I thought for a minute. He seemed intriguing enough.. "Well, Lissa...You'll never know what could've happened if you pass this up." I said to myself, wrenching the window open. "Hey!" I called to him as he pedaled back down towards the street.

He froze and turned around, catching sight of me in the window and walking a bit back towards the house. "Hi!" I shouted, waving and smiling. He looked a bit confused for a moment before recognition dawned on him.

"Hey, I remember you! The girl from the bus stop, right? How's you're lip?" I laughed a little for no good reason as he referenced my little previous run-in with him.

"Much better, thanks! I didn't catch your name before though, and it's been bugging me!" He smiled.

"It's Michael...What about you?"

"Lissa..." I stated simply, filled with a kind of flirtatious manner I hadn't felt in awhile.

"I didn't know you lived here." He looked around at the big house in awe. I shook my head.

"No...this is my...er...aquaintance's house. I'm just staying here temporarily." He raised his eyebrows.

"Aquaintance's?" I shrugged

"We're not really what you'd call 'friends'." He nodded in fake understanding. I just laughed, loving it when boys pretended to get something.

"Well, I've gotta get back to my paper route, but I'll see you around sometime again?" I nodded.

"Oh...you might..." I said flirtatiously, smiling and waving cutely as he pedaled away, looking back once at me. I grinned and shut the window, feeling content. I was back in my body, I was going to have a good meal tonight, and I THINK...I had just found my new target. Hehehe... ;)

* * *

**Max's POV **

**_Three months later... _**

_Slam! _I shut my locker door loudly, having just stowed away my history books. Katie was late to arrive at her locker, so I was waiting patiently for her to come from whichever class it was that was making her late. "Hey, Max!" I heard behind me. I turned to see Emily running through the halls, pushing people out of her way as she made her way to my locker. I grinned at her. She came to a stop, her newly black hair with bright pink highlights shining in the harsh hallway gleam. Her little nose stud glimmered and her eyes twinkled under her thick black eyeliner and lashes. "Another boring history lesson, I presume?"

I nodded. "Of course...This time it was all about Napolean. The only thing I drew out of the lecture was that he was short, and that Mr. Vandehei REALLY needs a tweezers for his nose." We both laughed at this. Ahh...it was good to feel normal again. It had been almost three months since me and Lissa's little switcheroo, and everything was slowly starting to fall back into place. I'd patched things up with Anne, and filled Emily in on everything that had happened. She'd been a little dissappointed that she hadn't gotten to try any of her concoctions on us, but I'd promised that if I ever switched bodies with someone again, she'd be the first person I'd go to.

As far as I knew, Lissa's mom was still in rehab, and Lissa herself was still crashing at her aunt's house. I defintely wouldn't go so far as to say that we were friends. Not even remotely close...but we certainly weren't enimes. We may not reach eachother on the social scale of things, but the truce between us remained and was in no danger of disintigrating anytime soon. We had a bit of an understanding. I didn't meddle in her life, or embarrass her in front of her "cool friends", and she didn't pick on me or any one of my crew. In fact, I'm not sure she'd picked on much of anyone these last three months. A strange relationship, no doubt, but...not entirely unbeneficial.

"Hey guys, sorry. Mrs. Klein kept us late for class AGAIN...what ya talking about?" Katie had arrived, her arms laden with math books and such. She shoved them in her locker as we updated her on the latest lecture. She joined in on the laugh, but suddenly stopped, her eyes focusing on something down the hall. We all stopped and turned to look. Lissa and her two friends were strolling down the hall, making a sort of clearing for themselves as they passed on. The wind from a strategically placed janitor's fan blew her hair, and the lights made her skin glitter. She looked like a goddess. But, hey...what else is new.

But...there was something different this time... As she walked by me now, she didn't mouth the word dyke or even give me dirty look. In fact, as she caught my eye, a small smile spread across her lips. A secret agreement, a truce. I smiled back discreetly. I guess you could say my opinion of Lissa really **SWITCHED **directions. Haha...get it? You see what I did there? Umm...nevermind...

"Ugh...I hate her..." Katie said venomously as she passed. I smiled at her.

"Oh...she's not that bad. I mean...at least not when you get to know her." I winked at Emily, who winked back as well. Katie looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Okay...I have NO idea what's going on here, but if we don't hurry, we're going to be late for class." I laughed and told them that I would be right back, that I just needed a quick drink from the fountain. I ran over and claimed possesion of the sacred water, thirsty as all hell. But as I bent forward to take a drink, something on the wall that the fountain was lodged into caught my eye.

**Atsuko Kanagawa  
Return Lecture on Compassion and Coming to Terms with Who You Are  
February 20th at 1:15  
All students required to attend.  
**

My eyes narrowed. So the Japanes lady returns yet again? I took my drink and then walked over to my friends who were patiently waiting to set off to class. "Hey guys..." I said as we started walking. "You're not um...doing anything important or anything on February 20th, are you?" I asked, trying to sound casual. They both looked confused.

"Umm...I don't think so, why?" Katie pried, curious about my random question. I smiled at my own inside joke

"Oh no reason...I'm just thinking about taking a sick day is all..."

* * *

**A/N: **Oh god...that took longer to write than I thought...Phew...I'm gonna miss this story now that it's over. :( Okay...I just have a few people to thank before I close this up for good.

Umm... thanks to anOVERLYanxiousparamorefan for writing to me possibly the most annoying reviews ever! But also one of my favorites! :D I'm sorry about your hand, and I hope you thouroughly enjoy this chapter, seeing as you practically wrote me a novel, anyways. :D

Thanks to all my other readers and reviewers. I love you guys. This story is dedicated to you. If I ever become famous one day (which by the way, is not at all likely, so don't hold your breath) I will mention you all in speeches. LOL...can you just imagine that? "Umm...I would also like to thank the people who read my stories on fanfiction! They helped me win this Oscar award...somehow..."

Thanks to the creators of Freaky Friday and The Hot Chick. Your movies inspired my story. No idea who exactly you are, but props to you for your good movies.

And also to the creators of project playlist for suffering through my writers block with me long into the night. ;D

XOXO, MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear

**SO LONG AND GOODNIGHT! **


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